Love or Hate?
by Tobi Grl
Summary: Sakura has run into a certain Akatsuki member while his "visit" to Konoha. Will she continue to hate his guts from being an Akatsuki member, or will she see past the title he holds? DeiSaku
1. Chapter 1

Time? What was the time? A groan rumbled in the blonde's chest and it echoed in the small room. The small bed creaked under his weight as he shifted in his bed and reached over the side to grab an object that was upon the floor. Thin fingers wrapped around the cool metal of the watch as he picked it up and brought it up to his face. His eyes squinted and he brushed away stray strands of hair. The small hand on the clock pointed to 6 and the long hand pointed to 27. It was 6:27 in the morning, why the hell was he awake at this time?

_CRASH!_

The bed creaked once more under his weight as he quickly lifted himself off the bed and looped towards the door. He felt around in the dark until his knuckles brushed against the cold handle of the door. Grasping it in his hand he gave it a twist and the door plied free of the door frame and revealed a brightly lit hall way. His eyes narrowed to try and fend off the unwanted light, but soon his pupils dilated and became used to the bright light, making it possible to look around and find the source of the noise.

_CRASH!_

The sound came from his right and there was also muttered voices coming from that way. Who the hell?

"Agh!"

A flash of black and orange sprinted past him in a blur. Tobi?

"Get back here you little twit! I'll fucking kill you! You'll be my next sacrifice!"

Another flash of black went past, but this time a long red streak was trailing behind. Tobi did something to piss off Hidan, nothing out of the ordinary. A low sigh passed through his thin lips as his fingers ran through his long tangled blonde hair. Another day in Akatsuki, another day in hell.

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"Sakura-chan!"

The loud voice blaring in her right ear brought the young kunoichi out of her revere. Her eyes fluttered to try and make sense of reality and where she was. Turning her head to the voice she saw the blonde hair and light blue hues of her exuberant friend and team mate, Naruto. He gave her his trade mark fox like smile before speaking once more.

"You ok, you were spacing out again. Something wrong, Sakura-chan?"

The male asked her in his concerned voice. His smile fading slowly. Lately she had been found staring off at nothing, and drifting into day dreams. She was even caught doing it earlier this morning while checking out a patient. The young girl shook her head and short pink tresses fluttered with her movement.

"No, I'm fine Naruto. I've just been...thinking."

Thinking? Yeah right! More like dreaming, hoping, praying that _he_ would return. It had been almost 3 years since he had left, since he left her on that bench in the park, and since he had broken her heart. Every day was a gamble. A gamble she would take to get him back. A soft sigh passed through her lips and then they curved at the sides to give her friend a warm smile. He smiled back in return.

"Well you better finish your ramen. It's getting cold."

Naruto pointed his chop sticks at the untouched bowl of ramen sitting in front of the girl. Her emerald orbs moved to look at the noodles sitting in the bowl. Truly she had lost her appetite long ago, but she decided to take a few bites, just so Naruto would know that she was at least eating something. Besides, she was going to need all the energy she could get for the mission her and Team Kakashi were to begin tomorrow. Naruto slurped whatever was left in his bowl and set it down upon the counter.

"Ah! Another bowl, please!"

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What was he babbling about now? Words seemed to always pour from his mouth, but Deidara never really understood what it was he was talking about. The blonde's visible eye twitched in annoyance as he stared at the masked male in front of him.

"Yeah! So he tried to take credit for the kill, but everyone knows that it was me who actually killed the man and brought him back for a bounty. Kakuzu was pretty mad when..."

Again with the nonstop chatter?! Once the other seemed like he was about to stop talking, he would suddenly bring up another idiotic subject and continue to wear the blonde's patience down to nothing. Would leader ban him from Akatsuki if he just "accidentally" killed Tobi? Bah! The little twit wasn't worth his time anyways!

"Shut up Tobi, yeah!"

The blonde finally blurted out, having enough of Tobi's constant ranting. The masked male seemed to cease his talking once the blonde spoke forth.

"Now give me that scroll. I need to look it over once more, yeah."

Deidara's hand was palm side up in front of Tobi, his fingers moving slightly in a gesture of impatience for the scroll. The masked male perked up and quickly dug in the pack by his side, soon bringing forth a green scroll and placing it into the blonde's awaiting hand.

Within the scroll held the profile of the bounty they needed to capture. It seemed Akatsuki was running low on money lately, and Pein was sending out member's who had already caught their bijuu to grab a few bounties to put a little cash in the Akatsuki's pockets. Their bounty was a young boy by the name of Takeo. He was in his late twenties and was a highly ranked ANBU captain of the Leaf Village, Konohagakure. The bounty was quite a bit, but nothing compared to some other shinobi in the village. It was a grab and go sort of mission and Deidara was told if he saw the kyuubi to forget the bounty and change course to the capture of the kyuubi.

A devious smirk graced his lips as he rolled the scroll up and placed it within the confines of his cloak. He would be sure to try and find the kyuubi. Capturing the kyuubi would only go to show that he was much stronger than the oh-so-cool Uchiha. Itachi had tried how many times to capture the boy? And failed at each attempt. This was Deidara's time to shine.

"Let's go Tobi. Konoha is only a few miles from here, yeah."

The masked nin jumped up from his spot on the ground, grabbing the pack and placing it around his waist where it was secure. With a small chuckle from the blonde and a frenzy of billowing cloaks, the two Akatsuki members' were off. Destination: the nine tailed fox.

**A/N: **Sorry this chapter is a bit short. Don't worry it will get longer. R&R please!

Oh and I do not own Naruto.


	2. Chapter 2

Just peachy! Rain always seemed to come down to ruin her plans. It was like some sort of curse that followed her around. Well rain wasn't going to stop her from completeing her mission! Where did she leave that rain coat of hers? It took Sakura another thirty minutes just to try and dig the thing out from her crammed closet. Good thing she woke up early this morning. Wait, what was the time? Emerald eyes moved over towards the small brass alarm clock that sat upon her night stand. It was 5:16 in the morning. Perfect! They didn't leave the village gates until 5:30, she had time to get to the gate without having to run.

Sakura quickly pulled up her connected hood as she exited out the front door of her house. Oh wait! She needed to lock the door. Where was that key?! Last time she had her key under the mat. Just as she was about to reach down she stopped. Naruto had found out where her key was awhile ago which caused frequent and unwanted visits from the blonde boy. The pot! That's where it was. Sakura's hand moved over towards the orange ceramic pot that held a dying tulip in it. As she lifted the pot a flash of silver was seen and she smiled to herself. 'Hopefully the idiot doesn't look under there, I'm running out of places to hide my key.' The small metal key was cold and wet to the touch as she picked it up. Maybe she should just get a key ring and carry it around with her. Too much trouble though. Sakura slid the small metal key into the lock on the door handle, but jumped as the sound of thunder crashed above her, causing her to drop the key. "Ugh..." Sakura groaned as she bent down and felt around for the key, finally grasping it and lifting herself back up to only have her heart skip a beat as a shadow illuminated from the flash of lightning. Instinct had her grab the first weapon that came to her hand and that was the small key she had in hand- some damage that would do. Quickly she whipped around to face whomever it was to only stare out at the empty street and the house across from her. 'The storms playing with your mind, Sakura.' Even if the storm was playing with her mind, she was still kind of scared. Who knew who could be out at this time of the morning.

After Sakura had finally gotten her door locked and readjusted her hood she had continued on her lonely walk towards the gates out of town. But now she was on her guard more than ever. There was just something off in the air. Her emerald hues were constantly moving back and forth in thought that someone was following her. Maybe if she picked up her pace and got to the gates...? Hopefully Naruto or Sai was there. At least then-

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

The loud voice popped up as if out of nowhere from behind her which made her flinch, scream, and punch the person behind her. A loud crunch of bones could be heard as her fist met the victim's nose causing a groan and yelp from the person.

"I swear! I'll kill you! Don't come near me! I've been trained by the best! I'll hit you so hard...Naruto?"

Sakura blinked as she stared down at the blonde. His hands were covering his nose which she was sure was pouring blood out. Served him right though! Just coming out of nowhere and screaming her name. It was dark out and it was raining and she was freaking out already.

"Why do you always punch me?"

Naruto's question came out in a slight mumble, but Sakrua could make it out. It did seem like she was constantly punching him. He always turned up in the worst of places around her though, wasn't her fault. With a sigh and a shake of her head, Sakrua bent down and helped Naruto get back up to his feet. Her hand glowed a light blue and she started to move it towards Naruto's damaged nose. His blue eyes widened and he quickly backed up.

"Woah! I didn't mean to piss you off that much! Just don't hit me again!"

"Heh, I'm not going to punch you again. Just come her so I can heal you."

Sakura giggled as she moved towards him and pulled his hood all the way off so she could get better access to his face. After a small fight with trying to take his hands away from his nose, Sakrua had finally healed his nose back to perfect, if not almost perfect health. She smiled at him as he grimaced and tried to wipe away the crimson stain that was stuck on his upper lip.

"I think you'll be fine."

"Yeah, but I think you need to kiss it to make it feel better."

Naruto smirked as he leaned in towards the pink haired girl, hoping to get lucky. Typical Naruto. Sakura glared at him as he closed his eyes and puckered his lips out. Raising her fist she was about to give him another blow to his already damaged nose before smiling to herself and then just flicking his nose. His eyes flashed open and a yelp was emitted from his lips as he quickly covered his nose wondering if she was going to hurt him anymore. Sakura giggled and rolled her eyes.

"Let's go, Naruto."

Said blonde just stared at her as she turned around and began to walk towards the gates. Well maybe he won't be getting lucky now, but maybe later? He smirked as he quickly followed behind her, his hands still covering his nose. Whatever gods above only know when she would hit him again.

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As the two members of team Kakashi came closer towards the gates they both noticed a dark silhouetted figure leaning agianst the post of the gates. Of course Sakura was on gaurd since she was still a little on edge this morning, but typical Naruto rushed in front of her and called out towards the person, or thing, who would know at this time of the morning.

"Oi! Your early Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura raised a brow as she squinted her eyes to try and get a better look at the figure. Naruto must have had super human eyesight because she couldn't see anything in the darkness and rain. But as they started to draw near to the figure Sakura calmed as it was indeed the silver haired nin leaning against the post of the gate with his orange book in hand. She huffed in mild annoyance as he kept his nose in his book at their approach. 'Typical sensei! Wonder what he would do if I burned that book?'

"Oh...Naruto, Sakura, your early."

"Says you! Your the one who's always late!"

Naruto pointed an accusing finger at their sensei. Sakura could tell that he was smirking under his mask by the way his eyes crinkled.

"No need to be so hostile."

Naruto and Kakashi seemed to get into a little argument about being late and on time while Sakura searched around the area for the other member of their team, Sai. Usually Sai was always on time, even before her or Naruto. Him not being here was sort of a surprise to her. Then again he might be sitting up in some tree somewhere drawing some crazy thing.

"Kakashi, where is Sai?"

The two males ceased their fight at the sound of Sakura's question. Naruto seemed to react by quickly looking about the area and turn towards Kakashi with a equally questioning look to Sakura's. Kakashi calmly closed his book and placed it back into the pack on his lower back.

"He won't be joining us on this mission, he had a special mission given to him by Danzou."

Well that summed it up. The whole team had known about Sai being in the ANBU, it just sort of surprised Sakura that he would even return to that bastard. There was just something about Danzou that Sakura didn't like. It always seemed like he was up to no good and he was constantly giving Tsunade head aches and turning her mood foul. Either way she wasn't going to go further into Sai's nonappearence on this mission, and both Kakashi and Naruto seemed like they too didn't want to get involved with it.

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After they all made sure they had enough weapons and other tools for the trip they headed out. The sun was just starting to peak above the horizon, but the rain never seemed to stop pouring down. It almost seemed like it had picked up in speed. Lovely! The trees were extremely wet from the rain so Sakura had to watch her step every time she landed and took off. Of course Naruto didn't seem to notice that he needed to take caution with the tree branches being wet, so he had fallen several times already, caking his rain cloak in a muddy color. Naruto's falls never seemed to douse Sakura's amusement as she heard him once more curse as he slipped and fell to the awaiting soggy ground. Sakura stopped in her tracks next to Kakashi as they both looked down at the blonde who picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"You know Naruto, a true ninja knows how to go against the elements."

Sakura giggled as she yelled down at Naruto who looked up with a sneer on his face and mouthed something Sakura was positive was a curse. Naruto dusted the last of his legs off and was about to jump back up onto the tree branch where Sakura and Kakashi were at when he noticed something on the ground. Kneeling down he examined the mark in the soggy grass. It was fresh. Looking around he noticed even more of the same marks on the ground. Not good!

"Sakura! Kakashi! Look-"

He was cut off as a kunai came whizzing past his face and buried itself into the nearest tree. On the end of the kunai there was a small paper that was sizzling away to nothing quickly. Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he ducked in just enough time as the paper bomb exploded, sending millions of pieces of bark in every direction. The aftershock shook the tree Kakashi and Sakura were occupying which caused them to have to jump down to where Naruto was still ducking down on the ground.

"Hurry! Grab the blonde one, yeah!"

The voice came from above and when Sakura looked up all she could see was the large underside of what looked like a bird. Over the side of it's neck looked like a flurry of blonde hair whipping around in the wind. Sakura sneered and was about to throw something at him when someone else jumped over the side. The person was decked out in a large black cloak with red clouds patterened on it, obviously Akatsuki, and the strangest part about him was his orange mask and wild black, spiky hair. This wasn't good.

"Hurry and get back to Konoha! I'll try and hold them off!"

Kakashi had already pulled down his mask and his Sharingan was blazing a crimson red as his hand flashed a blue color from his chidori. Now the blonde had jumped down and was next to the masked nin, an evil smirk plastered on his lips and his surprisingly bright blue eye flaring with amusement. Sakura needed to get out of her and fast. One Akatsuki member was one thing, but two against just them was another. Getting out of there and back to Konoha to get help was her only option.

"Naruto! Come on!"

Sakura ran over to the blonde boy as he was picking himself up off the ground. He seemed a little dazed from the blast, but he would be able to make it.

"I don't think so, yeah!"

The blonde spoke as he raised his hands to his mouth and mouthed something Sakura couldn't hear, and was unable to hear as another explosion went off. This one was larger than the other and it knocked her on her back along with Naruto. The sound of metal against metal was heard as Kakashi and the masked nin went at it. The blonde however stayed completely calm as he walked over toward the coughing nin's.

"Your coming with me, kyuubi."

He went to reach for Naruto who was having a coughing fit, but Sakura reached out and grabbed his wrist, snapping it with a single movement. The blonde Akatsuki member yelped and stumbled backwards, his broken wrist craddled to his chest. He sent a glare towards the panting kunoichi, but then smirked as he plunged his good hand into a light brown pouch at his side. What was he getting out? A kunai? With his broken wrist he wouldn't be able to take her on. She was sure to have the upper hand now, unless he brings out something else. Which of course he did. A medium sized clay figure was in the palm of his hand.

"Have fun!"

The blonde smirked as he was about to throw the figure down onto the ground in front of Sakura and Naruto, but was stopped as he heard a yelp and a thud from behind him. Turning his head over his shoulder he noticed his partner face first on the ground. His eye twiched as he stared at Kakashi who was now approching him quite quickly.

"Damn you, Tobi, yeah!"

With a flick of his wrist he let the figure drop in front of Sakura and Naruto who had just enough time to evade the blast. Now the blonde was engaged in a fight with Kakashi and his chidori. He kept trying to get a good distance away from the silver haired nin as he wasn't a close ranged fighter. Each time Kakashi tried to get near him, he would quickly evade his hit by jumping to a farther off branch while trying to work with what looked like a lump of clay. Instead of his calm look he had on his face before, he now looked flustered and under pressure.

"Naruto, we need to get back to Konoha and get help. I think Kakashi is on his last-"

Sakura stopped mid sentence as she heard a loud yell from where the blonde Akatsuki member was, the yell obviously the exuberant war cry from Naruto. A yelp was heard as a contact was made and a puff of smoke rose into the air. Shit, who was hit? Quickly Sakura leapt the the spot she was at and rushed over to the area to find Naruto holding the Akatsuki member by the collar of his bloody shirt. The male looked unconscious as Naruto flailed him back and forth yelling at him.

"That's right! Who do you think you are anyways?!"

"Naruto, that's enough. Set him down."

With a thud the Akatsuki's body fell to the ground as Naruto quickly released him. Sakura just frowned as she walked over to the body. It looked as if Naruto had given him a good blow to the head since a good amount of flesh was missing on the corner of his head and blood was dripping down his face quickly and staining his black shirt and cloak. But other than that he looked like he would live.

"The other one seemed to have gotten away. I went back to get the body, and it was gone."

Kakshi announced as he came into the clearing. It didn't really surprised Sakura that much that the other was gone, he must have gotten away when Kakashi was fighting the blonde. Some partner.

"Let's take his body and return back to Konoha. Maybe we can get some information out of him."

Sakura and Naruto both nodded as Kakashi moved forward and picked up the blonde's body, hauling him over his shoulder in an uncerimonial like way. Who would have known that her day would have started out like this. Crappy and rainy, with the surprise twist of an Akatsuki appearence.

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A/N: Sorry it took me awhile to update. December was hectic and I didn't have much time to get to this. Now it's a new year and I hope to keep to regular updates...hopefully

R&R please! 3


	3. Chapter 3

What's that feeling? Ugh, it felt like someone was taking a hammer and pounding against his forehead. It was probably Tobi, always giving him head aches. Damn that stupid ninja! He was always constantly getting on his nerves, now he wanted to play games and mess with him. Well think again! Deidara's blue hue flashed open, quickly looking about the area for any signs of the annoying masked nin. But wait, he wasn't in his cold, damp Akatsuki quarters. Where was he?! The room around him was made up of cream colored walls, a window was open to his right, and an annoying beeping sound was to his left. Where the fuck was he?!

"Hnn...!"

Deidara groaned as he lifted himself up, to notice that a wire was connected to the inside of his elbow. That was making that stupid beeping sound! With a yank of the wire it came loose from being buried in his skin by a needle. The beeping sound became even more annoying as it was just a long, straight annoying sound.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.....

A rush of ANBU came into the room which made him jump and instintively reach for the pouch at his right side, but there was no pouch. Instead of touching the rough texture of his pouch, he touched a thin, soft type of clothing. Wait! Where was his clothes, his cloak, and his pouch?! His blue hues widened in disbelief as he also noticed that his legs were chained to the rails of the bed he was lying in. Oh hell no! He had been captured! The blonde growled as he reached towards the chains at his ankles to be stopped by a hand. Following the hand up to the face that it belonged to only produced a rather ugly glare from him. He knew who this woman was, she was known all throughout the Fire country.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Her voice was deep and it held much authority in it. Her deep brown orbs stared him down as he glared at back her. Tsunade was her name. She was the Hokage of the Leaf village and that could only mean one thing. He was stuck in the Leaf village with not one thing to help him get out. His mission had turned out to be a failure.

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First she was told she could go and take the rest of the day off, now she had been told to go to the hospital! How could this be happening?! All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep the rest of the day away, most likely what Naruto was doing right now. Oh how she envied that blonde! After team Kakashi had returned from the so called "mission" with a surprise of an Akatsuki's body, they were all told to take the rest of the day off and the first thing she did was go home and take a nice hot shower and just as she was about to place a pot of tea on the stove she got word from an ANBU officer that she was needed at the hospital and that it was an emergency. And that is how she found herself walking up the stairs that lead into the hospitals front doors. The lobby was cold, as usual, and the girl behind the counter gave her a warm smile as she walked through the doors.

"Afternoon, Miss Haruno. Tsuande told me to tell you to report to room 406 right away. She should be up there."

"Thank you."

Sakura returned and obviously fake smile back towards the girl as she moved towards the elevator, pressing the up button. Room 406, eh? That was on the highest floor, usually those rooms weren't used unless they were holding extremely ill patients. Wonder who could need her attention?

DING!

The doors slid open and a few visitors piled out and past her as she climbed in and pressed the button for floor 4. The sound of the cheesy elevator music played in the background as she tried to think of what sort of epidemic illness could be spreading around and how she would cure it. She was after all known as the best medical kunoichi around, next to Tsunade that is. With both of them working on it she could hopefully have it cured in time for dinner, that way she wouldn't have to spend all night at the hospital. A true smile came to her lips as her hopes were lifted.

DING!

And as soon as that smile had come, it left. Just as the doors slid open she could hear the voices of many frantic nurses and ANBU running about.

"Get the anesthetic!" "Were going to need more chains." "Tsunade's getting impatient!" "Hurry!"

Sakura walked out of the elevator calmly and moved out of the way as a rush of ANBU went flying by her. What in the world could possibly be going on?! Was this illness that bad? And why would they need chains? Tsunade being impatient was definitely nothing new, but this was still starting to bug her. Who where they dealing with, or more like what?

"I want those tongues cut out from his hands!"

Tsunade yelled as she came barreling out from room 406. Tongues in hands? Wait a minute! She couldn't mean...? Sakura quickly made her way over towards room 406 where she peeked in to see quite a scene playing out. The blonde Akatsuki member whom they had caught only moments ago was throwing a tantrum and yelling at a nurse who was trying to get near him. He would stick his tongue out at her like a small child and so would the mouths on his hands, which freaked both her and the nurse out. Gross! Mouths on hands? Who ever heard of that kind of kekke genkai? Either way it was freaky. With a sigh of agitation, Sakura opened the door all they way and walked into the room.

"I don't give a shit! Let me outta here or I'll blow your brains out, yeah!"

"Sir, I need you to stay still. Your wound it reopening."

"Didn't you just hear me? I don't care! Get that needle away from me!"

The nurse was right too. A crimson stain was staining the white bandage that wrapped around his head and some was even leaking out and dripping down his cheek. What a handful this one was. He was acting like a child! If he lost enough blood he could die. Sakura rolled her eyes as she moved more towards him, which somehow caught his attention.

"You! OW!"

He yelped as the nurse had caught his distraction as a time to get the needle into the inside of his elbow. He tried to yank it out, but the nurse had used a bit of chakra to infuse it into him, producing more yelps as he kept trying to rip it out.

"Stop it, or your going to hurt yourself."

"Why do you care for my well-being? Just go away! I don't need you, yeah! I don't need any of you!"

Sakura grimaced as she glared him down. Boy he needed an attitude adjustment! Walking over to the end of his bed, Sakura grabbed the clipboard that was hanging off the end and quickly scanned it. His name was Deidara and he was originally from Iwagakure. He was 19 years of, from what they could tell, and he was involved with Akatsuki. So he was 19 and he was acting like a 2 year old?

"You had quite a blow to the head."

"Yeah? Blame your stupid kyuubi friend!"

He growled out as the mouths on his right hand tried to nibble through the plastic wire that was connected to the inside of his elbow. Again, freaky much?

"Stop that. Those wires are pumping anesthetic into you. Without that you would be feeling much worse pain."

Deidara stopped what he was doing to turn his bright blue hue onto the pink haired kunoichi at the end of his bed. His eye narrowed as he dropped the wire and glared daggers her way. What did she say? She was just making sure he didn't hurt himself more than he should be. Yes he was an Akatsuki member and her enemy, and sure she hated him with every fiber in her body, but she was taught to heal people that were left in her care and right now she was in her care.

"Look, if you stop trying to pull out those wires you can be let out of here earlier and-"

"And what? Be placed in a cell where I'm left to rot forever unless your ANBU leaders want information from me, yeah?"

His statement hit her quite hard. For the most part he was right. Once he was back to full health he would be placed under heavy guard in the Konoha prison where he would undergo interrogation from Ibiki. Then she would probably be sent down to heal the worst of his wound so that he wouldn't die and then the interrogations would start all over again. Either way he was screwed.

"That's what I thought."

His voice was more calm and quiet as he glared at her one more time before turning his head to the right to stare out the window. The sun was high in the sky and the sound of kids laughing and running about could be heard outside. To her it sounded like a lovely day, but to him it probably sounded all new. For an instant she almost felt bad for him, until he spoke again.

"This place sucks, yeah!"

Sakura frowned at his statement and watched as he went back to trying to get the wires out. Usually she didn't give up on patients, no wait, she never gave up on patients, but he was a different story. Sakura placed the clip board back onto the end of the bed and calmly walked out of the room with the yelping male. Why did Tsunade make her do this?

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"Because I want you to be in charge of him."

Well her question was answered, but why her?

"Why can't you just keep him locked up like all the rest of the criminals?!"

Sakura pouted as she stood in front of Tsunade's desk. They had both left the hospital after pumping enough drugs into the Akatsuki member to knock out a horse. He would definitely be out for the rest of the day.

"I alredy know that we won't be getting any information out of him if we just locked him up. So I devised a new way to go at it. If keep track of him and make sure he doesn't run off and such, I'm sure he will soon confess some of the Akatsuki secrets to you."

"So wait, are you saying you want me to practically become friends with that jerk?!"

"Practically, yes."

Tsunade smiled at her shocked student. How could she want such a thing? Becoming friends with an enemy?! Was she mad?! Even if it was like a mission, she still would never even let that man come any closer to her than she wanted.

"It's only until we get some information out of him."

"That could take months, years! Tsunade-sama, your asking for the inevitable. Please, just lock him up and-"

"No, Sakura, I already made this clear with the council. They think it would be perfect."

"What if he comes after me?!"

"He won't be around any weapons or anything that can be used to his advantage. Also we will put this little braclet on him to cut off all his chakra flow."

Tsunade produced a small silver braclet in front of Sakura. It didn't look at all effective, but when Sakura picked it up she noticed that it was powerful since she felt herself grow weak in the knees from a bit of chakra being sucked out of her.

"Where did you get this?"

"That's not the problem. I want you to put it on him when you go back to the hospital tonight and tomorrow you can show him around a bit since I'm sure he'll be fine to get up and walk around."

"Wait, you want me to go back tonight? But Tsunade I-"

"I don't want excuses, Sakura, I want results."

With a groan and a bow to the blonde woman, Sakura had left her office with the braclet in the pack on her back. It seemed like her day just kept getting worse. At least the day was coming to an end though, but what could tomorrow's day bring?

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A/N: So I actually got his update out right after I put up my second chapter. I feel so proud of myself! It's only because I'm completely bored and I'm really getting into this story, I can't wait until I get further in. Ohhhh drama!

R&R please

P.S. - Thank you to xxbochixx! You have been wonderful reader, always reviewing after chapters and sticking with me. Cookies for you!


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Sakura had arrived back at the hospital it was midnight. She had to do a few of her own personal things before she fully commited herself back at the hospital. It seemed like nothing had changed when she walked out of the elevator and onto the 4th floor. Many of the nurses looked quite tired and some of the ANBU looked a bit bored. 'Well if they just locked him up and threw away the key they wouldn't have to be babysitting him.' Sakura grumbled as she walked into room 406. Deidara was awake and staring out the still open window in his room. The sound of crickets playing their soft tune could be heard and she could have sworn he had a look of sadness on his face, that was until he turned to look at her and bore a glare that could have put Sasuke's scowls to shame.

"Your up early. Your body must have burned off the anesthetic off quicker than I thought."

Deidara seemed to say nothing to her as she spoke and walked up to check the monitors that were connected to him. He gave her a look of hate and then turned his gaze down towards the end of his bed. It seemed that everything was running smoothly and by tomorrow he could be up and walking once more. 'Well that would be just wonderful!' She moved over towards Deidara's elbow to take the wire out since he wouldn't be needing anymore drugs, but just as she was about to touch him he quickly moved his arm away from her with such speed that she was left stunned. Wasn't he just complaining about the wires a little bit ago, now he didn't want them out?

"Different nurse."

Deidara spoke softly as he kept his glare upon her and his arm far out of reach from her. Obviously he didn't trust her. Well what could she say? She did break his wrist in half with a simple squeeze of her hand. He was probably expecting her to snap his elbow in half and then work her way up. Ha! Wouldn't that be a sight to see! Sakura slowly moved away from him and just nodded, best if someone else do it anyways, she didn't want him to have another one of his temper tantrums and she loose her temper. So she abided by his one wish and walked out and retrieved another nurse to take the wires out of him. After the nurse had completed the job, Sakura had walked back in to see the male sleeping. 'Lucky!' Sakura gave him an envious glare before softly shutting his door and then walking away to the employees lounge. If she was going to be there all night then she might as well get some caffeine in her system.

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"STUPID SODA MACHINE!"

A loud thud resounded off the walls in the small room of the employees lounge. Sakura turned the corner to see Naruto nearly beating the life out of the old machine. Everyone in the hospital knew that the machine had quit years ago and now only stood there as a money eater and a space consumer, two things they didn't need. But Naruto never was in the hospital long enough to know that, so now he was making dents in the metal sides of the machine and cursing as he tried to get his Orange Fizz out. Now he had his palms on both sides of the machine and was shaking it back and forth vigourously. Boy did he want that soda!

"Naruto, you know that doesn't work."

Sakura giggled lightly as her brow raised at the now shocked blonde. He probably thought he was the only one in there trying to get a drink, but he guessed wrong.

"Oi! Sakura-chan! I didn't hear you come in!"

"That's because I just got here, silly. What are you doing to that poor thing?"

"Oh this? It ate my money! I want my soda!"

Naruto grabbed both sides of the soda machine and began to wiggle it once more with much more vigor than the last time.

"It doesn't work."

"Huh?"

"I said it doesn't work. It hasn't worked in years."

"Then why didn't someone put a sign on it saying it doesn't! I wasted good money there! That could have gone to a bowl of ramen!"

"Like you need anymore of that stuff, and besides, this is the EMPLOYEES LOUNGE! Your not supposed to be in here."

Naruto seemed to look caught red handed. Sakura just giggled at his guilty look.

"Why are you here anyways?"

"Granny Tsunade told me you would be here."

"It's the middle of the night, Naruto?"

"...I couldn't sleep?"

Sakura began to burst out laughing at that, which Naruto seemed to join in with. After they calmed from their laughing fit, Sakura had made herself a cup of coffee and both of them sat around the small cardtable that was in the room. Naruto had finally decided to tell her why he really came to see her, after she kept proding him on why he was up so late at night and at the hospital of all places when he wasn't even hurt; for once.

"Well I heard that you were with the Akatsuki guy."

"What do you mean with?"

"Well I just heard from Kakashi that you were put on the job to take care of him, is that true?"

Sakura groaned out aloud. It seemed nothing in Konoha could stay a secret, especially when it had to deal with an S-class criminal.

"It's just to get information out of him, nothing more and nothing less."

"I'm worried for you, Sakura."

Naruto's voice held worry and sadness in it. He was always protective of Sakura, making sure she was safe and healthy before himself. He was like the big brother she always wanted. Slowly she reached out her hand to place it upon the blonde's folded ones.

"I'm a big girl, Naruto, I can handle him. Besides, by the way he won't even let me touch him, I'm sure he's more afraid of me than I am of him."

Both of them began to laugh loudly again and begin to talk about what other missions would be coming up soon and about the chunnin exams that would soon be starting and of the invite from Gaara to go to Sungakure for a visit. It was almost like they both had no worries in the world they lived in; almost.

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"And what the hell do you claim that to be, yeah?"

Deidara had awoken at about 8:39 in the morning. He had already insulted many of the nurses that came in and threatened almost every single ANBU that came in range of his voice. He was like a firecrakers ready to explode at any moment and he was becoming more fidgety as the day wore on, so Sakura decided to do the worst thing imanginable to anyone; she was going to show him around the village.

"Don't worry about it."

"But it won't come off. What is it?"

"I said don't worry about it, now do you want to go take a walk or not?"

That seemed to shut him up, but he wouldn't stop messing with the braclet. He constantly analyzed it and tired to pull it off, but it was form fitted around his wrist so that he wouldn't be able to take it off and the metal was non breakable. Once they had got into his clothes, of course they had been washed and he wanted nothing other than his same clothes, they had walked out of the room and into the elevator where they made silent decent down. Sakura bit her bottom lip hard. Would they get started at? What would people say? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea! I better turn back! Too late! With a ding the doors slowly slide open the and cold air of the lobby rushed in to make Sakura's hair on the nape of her neck stand on end even more than they were just minutes ago from the anxiety that was coursing through her system. As she walked out of the elevator shaft, Deidara in step beside her, she was greeted by the receptionist.

"Morning, Miss Haruno, I don't know if you knew Naru-"

She fell silent and her eyes buldged as she took in the blonde next to the pink haired girl. Surely it wasn't Naruto.

"Oh, I met with him last night. Thank you for informing me though.

The receptionist just nodded her head, her face still frozen in shock as she watched the two walk out the doors. Would that be the same look she would get everywhere? 'Oh dear! I knew this was a bad idea from the beginning! I'll just go to Tsunade right now and-' The presence of the blonde was not next to her anymore. Frantically Sakura looked around her for the male to see him walking off down the street caliming everyone's eyesight. It seemed news definitely traveled fast. Quickly Sakura broke into a sprint to catch up to him before anyone decided to take his lonely walk as a chance to attack.

"HEY! What do you think your doing?!"

"Walking, yeah."

Deidara said calmly as he made a left turn down a street. Some children would stop and point at him with wide and amused eyes while their parents would try and drag them back their safe and secure houses.

"You can't just run off like that!"

"Pfft, what does it matter? If someone kills me then I don't care, would get me outta this shit hole, yeah."

Sakura had enough of his insults about her village. In an instant she was in front of him, blocking his path, a very angry scowl on her features.

"Your a real asshole!"

She had never really cursed before, unless it was a dire situation, but he was one ignorrant man! He needed to hear the truth! She was positive he would have reached out and slapped, or punched, her out of his way, but all he did was smirk and lean in slightly, causing her to lean away.

"Thanks, I take that as a compliment, yeah!"

His breath smelt oddly minty, he probably grabbed a peppermint off the receptionist desk before they left. His lips quirked and pulled up into a maniacal smirk, one that sent shivers down Sakura's spine.

"Still want to take a walk, don't you?"

He used the same words she had used not to long ago to make him stop with his fussing at the hospital; how evil! Sakura slowly moved out of his way and back to his side as they continued down the silent street. What a handful he would be!

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A/N: I think I updated well enough, right? Well anyways, I'm pretty proud of this chapter. Much more drama and things of that sort on their way. Don't worry there will be DeiSaku moments, I just don't want to rush them into a relationship right away, I mean he is a crimnal and they obviously hate each others guts! Relationships take time people!

Anyways, R&R lovelies!

P.S.- I think I'm concluding that this story is going to be longer than I intended it to be. Woopsie! o_O


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura's mouth stayed slightly agape and her nose crinkled in disgust as she stared at the blonde in front of her. She now regretted ever even walking into the restaurant; she knew it wouldn't have been a good idea. But when he said he was hungry and hadn't eaten since they had taken him in, he didn't eat the hospital food since he knew it was most likely disgusting, he asked if he could go to a place and get something to eat. She told him she wasn't spending any bit of money on him, but when his stomach growled loudly she felt a bit bad for the guy and decided to take him to a small restaurant to get him something to eat. Why was she always so nice? Sakura winced as he belched after taking a long swig of his green tea. How revolting! He quickly went back to shoveling the food into his mouth as quick as he could possibly get it in. Did Akatsuki even feed him, or even have manners for that matter?

"Salt, yeah."

The blonde spoke with his mouth full and didn't even bother to lift his face away from his plate. Sakura's head turned over towards the small, red ceramic salt shaker near her right elbow. She made a 'tch' sound as she turned back towards him, her eyes narrowed. He didn't even bother to say please let alone lift his face away from his plate to ask her. How rude!

"Humph!"

Deidara finally stopped in his eating and decided to look over at the pink haired girl, no salt shaker in her hand. What, was she deaf? He quickly slurped up the noodle that was hanging from his mouth and sat straight up in his chair, his long pointer finger directed at the salt shaker.

"Salt."

Sakura's eyes narrowed even more as she gave him a deadly glare. Obviously he wasn't getting the memo that she wanted to hear a please to give it to him. Deidara's visible blue hue rolled in his eye socket as he huffed and reached for the salt shaker. If he wanted things done, then he had to do them himself! But just as he was about to grab the item it was quickly snatched away by a hand. He held a look of shock as he followed the arm to see Sakura holding it at arm's length away from him still glaring daggers his way. Slowly he sat back in his chair and stared her down.

"If you want a polite word, you're not going to get it, yeah!"

The pink haired girl's glare never faltered and she didn't dare move. The tension in the room was thick as the two shinobi had a stare down. Deidara's blue hue glowered with amusement as he stared at the salt shaker in her hand, thinking of how to get it away from her. Then within an instant he had lunged across the table, his plate spilling on the floor and a yelp escaping the pink haired girl.

"Nooooo!"

"Give it to me dammit, yeah!"

"Stop! Deidara! Stop it! Sit back down! Nooo!"

Deidara tried to stretch to grab it, but she had a firm hand on his chest to keep him away. His feet pressed against the ground to try and push himself further towards the girl. Their bodies soon clashed as Deidara decided to wrap his arms around her torso and take her to the restaurant floor; the salt shaker flew from Sakura's grasp and skidded across the floor. Obviously Deidara had no use of it now since his food was past even being able to eat, but he wanted the salt shaker just to show that he could get it from her. Deidara finally got free from her and quickly scrambled across the floor to retrieve it, but Sakura had pounced on his back, slamming him chest first on the ground.

"Get off me, yeah!"

"You're acting like a child, Deidara!"

"Says you! You're the one on top of me!"

He growled as he tried to squirm away from under her, but he felt fingers brush against his scalp and then a fist clench. He yelped as the girl yanked on his long blonde hair, her other hand grabbing hold of his ponytail and yanking that too. He felt her push down on his head and his face was planted hard against the floor.

"You going to calm down now?"

"NO! You're lucky I don't have my clay or chakra, yeah!"

"You arrogant little sh-"

"Ah hem?"

Sakura and Deidara both stopped in what they were doing as a different voice interrupted their fight. Looking up they saw a tall man staring down at them with a rather angry look on his face. A small white name tag read MANAGER across it. Sakura quickly gave him her sweetest smile, but it didn't work as he crossed his arms across his chest in a displeased gesture. Stupid Deidara!

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They had both been thrown out of the restaurant after their little "incident". Of course none of it was her fault, or so she was telling herself. I mean really! Was it truly that hard to say please? Sakura's gaze turned over towards the blonde who was leaning against the railing of the bridge, staring back at her with a blank gaze. After they had been thrown out Sakura had stomped off towards the bridge her and her team used to always meet up at. She was yelling at him the whole way, telling him that she didn't care if he ran off and got killed anymore. One less burden off her shoulders. But he seemed to tag along behind her like a lost puppy, saying nothing as she raged on and on about how he was an abomination to this world and how she wanted him to jump off a bridge and land on a large pile of sharp and deadly rocks. 'Stupid males! They ruin everything!' Sakura grumbled to herself as the blonde kept his staring contest up. After what felt like hours had passed, Sakura finally pushed herself away from leaning against the opposite railing from Deidara and started to walk away once more. Deidara stared at her as she continued to walk with precise steps. What was it with females? They always thought they were the dominate race? Well think again! Who do you think it was that even brought the opposite sex into this word, that's right! MALES! Deidara rolled his visible blue hue as he pushed himself away from the railing and followed along behind her at a good distance. Why he was following her? Well he himself couldn't seem to answer that question. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time, and when did Deidara ever do the "right" thing? He quickly shook the thought off as Sakura had stopped and was now talking to a male with pale lavender eyes and long, silky brown hair. Their voices were kept low enough that he couldn't hear, but he did seem to catch the word "Akatsuki" well enough. Obviously they had been talking about him. Hello! Right here! Imbeciles!

"Hmm?"

Sakura quickly whipped around at the sound of the throat clearing. Deidara was standing right behind her, his deadly glare focused on Neji. Did he hear what they were talking about? Oh well, what did it matter if he heard?

"I'll be going, Sakura."

"Leaving so soon, yeah?"

Deidara intervened just as Neji was about to turn around and walk away. Both the males held an equally bone chilling stare. Sakura bit her bottom lip. She really didn't want to break up a fight between the two of them; she already went through enough today. Thank god Neji wasn't one to start a fight. The Hyuuga prodigy turned and walked away at a brisk pace. Sakura exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"Tch, wuss."

"Don't you dare talk to anyone, got it?!"

"And who are you to tell me what to do, yeah?"

Sakura seethed, quickly grabbing a fistful of Deidara's shirt and pulling him down to her level. His face quickly registered shock as he tried to pull away from her iron grip.

"I'm the person that will beat you senseless if you don't listen."

She growled out coldly towards him, releasing him and then side stepping around him. Anger management much? Deidara turned his head over his shoulder as the pink haired girl walked away from him. No wonder he stayed away from woman, they were completely insane!

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This place always gave off the feeling of death. It was always pitch black and smelt awfully rancid. Why they had to choose this place of all places confused him. His unobservable stare moved about the area. All he could see of the others were their eyes, other than that they looked like ominous floating ghosts. One set of deep crimson eyes seemed to catch his attention. The crimson hues stared off blankly at nothing in particular until they suddenly moved over towards his presence. To most the look of the piercing gaze would send a chill down one's spine, but he was used to these eyes, for he had them also. Tobi nodded his head towards the crimson hues before moving his gaze over towards the interesting grey ones. Leader, as he was known, had called all the Akatsuki members towards the secluded cave to seal yet another bijuu. Who had caught the monster was beyond Tobi's worries, right now he was wondering if Leader would notice his partner's absence. He didn't mean to leave Deidara, he had to keep up his "Tobi" act and that wasn't the easiest of things to do when you can practically kill someone by a look- no kidding aside. Maybe Leader would just forget they even had the blonde member?

"Tobi."

The voice sounded muffled, like it wasn't even there- truly it wasn't. Tobi's masked face turned directly towards the Leader's now questioning gaze.

"Where is Deidara?"

Of course they would notice a certain talkative, hot-headed blonde's absence. All of a sudden all eyes were on him. Tobi silently cleared his throat.

"Uhhh! Well you see, me and Senpai were on this mission and th-"

"I don't want to hear another story, Tobi, tell me where Deidara is."

"He was captured by Konohagakure's ANBU."

Hushed voices broke out in the cave. A loud, maniacal cursing broke from the white haired nin known as Hidan. Some of the others Akatsuki members looked at each other, but one set of eyes were glued to him. The once boring crimson stare now turned into a narrowed eyed glare. He already knew what was going through the other Uchiha's mind. 'How in the hell did they beat you two?' And Tobi was asking himself the same question.

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A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems a bit short. I've been stuck with writers block ever since my stupid English teacher decided to load me with essay after essay, oh and Emerson! -shakes fist madly- Anways, I'm hoping to get the next update up sometime this weekend or next week- hopefully!

Thanks for all the reveiws that everyone have submitted. You are the ones that keep me going updating and going. Cookies for everyone!

R&R everyone!


	6. Chapter 6

More paperwork? It seemed that was all she was doing now a days. Approving or disapproving of other villages motives, or worrying about her own villages problems. Another rather large stack of papers were set upon her desk from her apprentice, Shizune. That was the third one today! A low groan escaped through the busty Hokage's lips. Better get some more sake out now, it's going to be a long day! Tsunade's coffee brown orbs followed her apprentices movements and once she left her office she reached under her desk for the white ceramic bottle. Where was it? Hopefully Shizune hadn't gone snooping for her hidden stash? What a damper on the rest of the day that would be.

"I'll drag you in there if I have too!"

The sound of another voice quickly brought Tsunade up from looking under her desk for her sake. Who in the world? Before Tsunade could question who it was, a pink haired girl dragging an angry and bored looking blonde male came bursting into her office. They came to a halt in front of her desk as the pink haired girl bowed in respect.

"Tsunade-sama."

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?"

"Tsunade-sama, I can't stand him anymore can I please-"

"Kill me now..."

Deidara had muttered under his breath, getting an evil glare sent his way from interrupting Sakura.

"What is the meaning of this, Sakura?"

Tsunade's eyes honed in on the blonde who was rolling his visible blue hue and then fidgeting with his fingers as Sakura started to explain why they were here.

"I tried to be nice, I tried to do as you told me, but I just can't handle him! Tsunade, please just lock him up!"

"You know we would all love to do that, Sakura, but that's just not an option."

Deidara finally stopped fidgeting and quickly brought his gaze upon the blonde woman, a rather nasty look on his face towards her earlier comment. Tsunade ignored his look and turned her gaze over towards the pink haired girl. She looked sleep deprived and a bit on edge. Who wouldn't be though? With a loud sigh she sat back in her chair and analyzed both of the shinobi. Of course they wouldn't be getting along. He was an Akatsuki member and she was a dedicated shinobi to the Leaf Village. There had to be a way that Deidara could consider her a "friend" and Sakura could wean information from him. Ah ha!

"You two will be rooming with each other."

Sakura's eyes bulged and Deidara looked speechless. Quickly Tsunade added more information in.

"I'm doing this so Sakura can keep a better eye on you, Deidara, and I don't have to have a constant surveillance of ANBU on you when I can have them out looking for your other members. Now this will only be a for a little bit, until I can find a permanent spot to keep you with maximum security at the cost of minimum ANBU members."

"BUT TSUNADE I-"

"You two are dismissed, now leave."

Sakura wanted to argue, but the look her mentor gave her told her that if she didn't leave she would be escorted out rather unkindly.

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"You sleep here, I see that you move in the middle of the night and you'll have a kunai so far up your-"

"I get it, now leave me alone, yeah."

Deidara snatched the pillows and blankets Sakura held out towards him and set them down upon the futon she had pulled out at the end of her bed. Well she was definitely going to keep an eye on him, that was for sure. He grumbled as he sat down upon the futon and removed his boots, setting them down near him. Sakura watched him as he did this and then as he started to remove his shirt.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH! What do you think your doing?!"

Sakura stared at him as he threw his shirt upon his boots. His face turned towards her with his brow perking up ever so slightly.

"I'm going to sleep, what else do you think I'm doing?"

"I didn't say you can strip!"

"It was my shirt, if you want me to strip then you could have just-"

"No no no! Just...go to bed, please."

Deidara snickered and plopped down upon the dusty futon, making himself comfortable as Sakura disappeared into the bathroom. She changed into a pair of black shorts and a white tank top. As she picked up her clothes and walked out her eyes met with the blonde on the futon. He was spread out in all directions and his chest was moving up and down softly. Small and irregular lines upon his right breast caught her attention, but she pulled her eyes away quickly as she saw his icy blue hue staring at her and a smirk pulling at his lips. Oh god! It probably looked like she was checking him out! It wouldn't be the first time seeing a male without a shirt! Gah, why were her cheeks burning up! Just walk to bed quickly! Sakura set her clothes in a pile at the corner of her room and then climbed into bed, the presence of a killer in her room very apparent. And Tsunade expected her to sleep?

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Sweat gripped at every aspect of Sakura's being, it felt like she was drowning and there was no way to the surface. Wait, there was a light. Someone near the light, should she go towards it? Her eyes squinted and she could make out the dark pattern of the thing. Her eyes shot open as the figure became more focused. She wanted to scream out towards him, to run towards him, but the water was preventing both things. This was her one chance to get him back though! Say something! Do something!

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Sakura bolted straight up in bed and squirmed around as she felt hands tightly grip her shoulders and shake her wildly. Who was shaking her?! Was it Sasuke?

"Holy shit! Get a grip on yourself woman, yeah!"

At the catch phrase at the end of his sentence, she knew it wasn't Sasuke and slowly opened her eye lids to stare at a frantic looking blonde, the one blonde she never wanted to see in her dreams or out of them. Her eyes quickly narrowed and she pushed him away from her in a quick instant, making Deidara stumble backwards.

"Well your welcome, yeah."

"I didn't need help, I was perfectly fine!"

"You didn't seem to fine, sounded like you were gurgling on something."

"It was just a dream! Now go back to bed!"

Sakura growled out and quickly turned her back towards him. No matter how much she didn't want to admit it, she was actually glad Deidara was there. For some odd reason she felt like he saved her from another night of crying helplessly into the night. A low huff was heard as the blonde moved back towards the futon and then plopped back down. He knew who's name it was that she was screaming out. It was the Uchiha brat! Itachi's little brother! Oh how he would love to get his hands around that little twits throat and strangle him to death! But what could Sasuke be to Sakura, why would she scream his name out like that? Bah! He was thinking to much to late into the night. Maybe he could get the answers tomorrow.

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A/N: I'm soooo sorry this took forever to get out. School has been mega hectic, but I'm on Spring Break now so I hope to get a lot finished with this story.

R&R readers!


	7. Chapter 7

The bright light of the morning shone against Sakura's eyelids, making her see a pink like hue. It was morning already? Ugh, she needed to get up. Tsunade probably had stacks of papers for her to go through and what not. With a yawn and a stretch of her limbs, the pinklette swung her legs over the side of her bed, feet connecting with the cold ground. She needed to take a shower, then have something for breakfast, oh and she-

"Uff!"

Sakura stumbled over something, flailing out to try and keep her balance, but in the end she fell forward against something hard and warm. She could hear the soft rhythmic thud of a heartbeat, and a groan from the thing she fell against. Who...oh no!

"I didn't really ask for a wakeup call this morning, yeah."

A limb wrapped around Sakura's torso, pulling her closer to his body and nuzzling his face against hers. Sakura squeaked, cheeks flaring up with embarrassment at the scene playing out. She pressed her palms against his chest trying to push away, mumbling something.

"But this could possibly work."

"Ughh! Let go of me!"

Sakura squirmed against him, finally getting free and quickly getting to her feet. He laughed, lifting himself up on his elbows to look at her. A chuckle erupted out his lips as he saw the red that seemed to claim her face.

"Calm down, it was only a joke. But...if you wanted to cuddle, all you-"

"Uhhh! You are so disgusting!"

Sakura screamed out, fists clenching at her sides. Deidara flinched slightly. She looked extremely pissed and he really didn't want another broken wrist. Getting up slowly, Deidara moved away from the fuming kunoichi and out of the bedroom. He heard a slam of a door, which he knew was her bathroom, and shook his head. Boy, she needed a chill pill or something. Hearing the water being turned on, Deidara moved towards her fridge, rummaging through it for something to eat. Apples, lettuce, carrots, sushi...what the hell was all this? Where was the junk food? Didn't girls her age like things such as chocolate, chips, and soda?! Guh, this was turning out to be fruitless. Closing the fridge door, Deidara went off to look through the cabinets for something either covered in grease, or high in fat, but the sound of a door opening caught his interest and he turned his gaze towards the kunoichi's bedroom door to see her emerge already dressed and hair dried. Wow she was quick.

"Don't you have anything other than...rabbit food to eat, yeah?"

"Rabbit food? I'll have you know, keeping a healthy diet keeps you fit-"

"I could care less about healthy food. I'm perfectly fine and fit, I don't need all...that stuff to help me."

Deidara pointed a finger in the direction of her fridge, nose uplifted in disgust. Sakura rolled her eyes and shook her head, pushing past the male to the fridge and grabbing a few items. Deidara looked over her shoulder to see what it was that she was doing, to only get pushed out of the way. With a grunt Deidara sat down in a chair at the counter, trying to figure out what she was making with all the items she was pulling out of the fridge. She cracked an egg over a skillet and the smell wafted to Deidara, making his mouth water. Even if it was rabbit food, it smelled awfully delicious.

"There, you should like that."

Sakura set a plate down in front of the blonde. It looked like a yellow blob, with green and red dots speckled upon it and cheese pouring out from the middle somewhere. Deidara seemed to stare at it for awhile before lifting his gaze up to Sakura and giving her a questioning look. Sakura just rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me you've never had an omelet before?"

"An om-what?"

"An omelet. It's just a scrambled egg with veggies, such as green and red pepper diced up in it and some cheese on the inside."

"Huh..." Deidara poked it with his fork.

"Trust me, you'll love it. Now eat quickly, we need to go in a bit."

Without much more complaining, Deidara picked off a small bite from the omelet thing and stuck it in his mouth. The taste seemed to explode in his mouth, making him take even bigger bites and stuffing it in his mouth without another word said to the kunoichi as she cleaned up.

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"Deidara, hurry up."

Sakura whined, running back to the blonde that was staring at some little gennin that was staring at him. She grasped at his wrist and started to drag him away.

"Do you have to grab everyone's attention?"

"It's not my fault, yeah."

Deidara grumbled, yanking his arm away from the girl and stopping in his tracks. Sakura turned and glared at him. What was his problem today? He was giving everyone weird looks and always kept stopping to look at something or someone, and he was being rather quiet than the other day when he was yelling and screaming curse words at every opportunity he could. She cocked her head to the side, giving him a questioning gaze before opening her mouth to say something, but then quickly shutting it again and turning around to walk once more. The rest of the walk to the Hokage tower was in silence. Deidara keeping a good distance behind her as they walked, and then keeping his gaze upon the ground as they entered the Hokage's office.

"Ahh, Sakura, Deidara, there you are."

"Tsunade-sama."

Sakura bowed, producing a fake smile towards her mentor before turning her gaze towards the blonde to see that he wasn't even paying attention.

"Well then. I want you to get a report about-"

"Granny Tsunade, I need a mission, do you know how bored I'm-"

Everyone went quiet in the room as the blonde kyuubi entered into the room, now capturing the interest of the blonde Akatsuki member. Both of the males stared for a few seconds, before something snapped in one of them and they lunged at each other.

"Naruto! Deidara!"

Tsunade cried out, lifting herself from her seat with a pound of her fist upon her desk. The loud voice of the female didn't seem to break the two apart, as they grappled upon the ground. What was it with males and having to fight every time they saw each other? Sakura stomped over towards the two, grabbing Deidara's black shirt and trying to rip him from Naruto's claw like grip. Curse words produced and Sakura could have sworn she saw Naruto take a bite out of Deidara before she finally ripped him apart with the help of Tsunade grabbing at Naruto. Both the males struggled against their holders as they tried to grasp at each other once more.

"Knock it off, both of you!"

Tsunade growled out, shaking Naruto for emphasis. Both of the males seemed to calm for a bit, fuming and breathing hard.

"I'll kill you!"

"Oh yeah? Remember that other little beast host from the Sand village, yeah? Want to know who it was that killed him."

Deidara laughed maniacally, Naruto's eyes bulged, his eyes starting to take a hint of red in them and his trade mark fox whiskers starting to expand. He growled out, trying as hard as he could to get to the other male, Tsunade having a bit of a hard time holding him back.

"Hahaha, and if Itachi's lil brother doesn't get to him before he gets to you..."

Deidara's eyes shone with some sort of admiration and he held the look of a killer. The hair on the nape of Sakura's neck stood on end. She was holding a killer this whole time. Yes, she knew it, but it really hadn't hit her this hard that he had killed so many innocent people, and Gaara of all of them. Finding pleasure in their screams of pain, watching as their life blood spilled from their bodies and their family cried out in horror for them. He was a killer, and he was showing his true self now. She gave a hard yank at his shirt, which made him stop laughing maniacally as he stumbled to keep his stance. Naruto on the other hand steamed, but otherwise stood still glaring at Deidara.

"Naruto, I think you need to go."

Tsunade spoke, quietly, and carefully letting go off Naruto and giving him a soft push in the direction of the door, hoping he wouldn't pounce on the Akatsuki member and rip his head off in that instant. Lucky enough, the boy stalked out of her office and out of the building without any more trouble. Tsunade now turned her gaze towards the only male left in the room. Both she and Sakura gave him a careful look. He had returned back to his calm self, his gaze adverted from both of them as he stared at the ground.

"Forget about the report, Sakura, just...go home and have the day off."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

Sakura bowed low before turning and walking towards the door, looking back at the male who hadn't moved one bit. Tsunade cleared her throat, bringing the blonde to look up quickly, raising his chin in pride as he walked towards the door where Sakura was waiting for him. He walked out the door, Sakura about to take lead behind him when she heard her mentor clear her throat once more.

"Be careful, Sakura."

Her eyes were full of sympathy. They both knew what they really were up against with the Akatsuki member. This wasn't going to be no walk in the park. If he wanted to seriously kill the kunoichi, he could easily seem to do it with just his hands.

"Don't worry, I will, and thank you."

With another quick bow the kunoichi walked out the door, closing the door with a soft click.

----------

The rest of the day was sort of a blur. Sakura had to run a few errands for some things at home, Deidara dragging his feet behind her the whole time. Every time she looked over her shoulder at him, he was always staring off in the distance. Did he miss that awful Akatsuki group, or was it something more than that? When he turned his head to look at her, she quickly pulled her head back to the front, acting as if she saw nothing.

"I just need a few more groceries."

She explained, walking through the door of a small market, the ding of a bell above them ringing sweetly at their arrival. There were a few people running about, grabbing items and paying at the counter. None of them seemed to care about the new customers, and kept to their own business. One woman smiled at her child as he tried to beg her into buying him a candy bar, eyes large and lips pouted. Sakura chuckled as she moved past them and down an aisle. Deidara followed Sakura, but kept his gaze upon the mother and child. Watching with amusement as the mother ended up nodding and allowing the child this one item. What was it with that sort of look? The look of wanting. Deidara was young when his parents had died, so he didn't really know the whole mother child bonding component.

"Ouch."

Sakura squeaked out as Deidara bumped into her, obviously being too engrossed by the mother and child to keep track of where he was walking. He quickly backed up; staring at the shelf Sakura seemed to be so interested in. Deidara's nose upturned at the produce. Cans of many different vegetables.

"Don't you ever let yourself go out on a limb, yeah?"

Deidara questioned, getting a confused look from the kunoichi. He sighed loudly, pulling at her arm and dragging her out of the aisle. Sakura yelped at his sudden movement, eyes wide as she tried to pull away from him without making too much of a commotion.

"Deidara! What are you-?"

"Cakes, candy, chips...don't you ever eat any of this?"

"I used to, but that stuff isn't healthy. You could clog up your arteries and-"

"Sakura, you're what, 16? Live a little, yeah. You don't have to worry about that stuff when your metabolism is running like a wild horse."

Deidara did a half smirk, which made him look childish. The right corner of his lips pulled more than the other side, making him look mischievous. He looked so human and well...not a killer. His eyes sparkled with delight as he started to pull said items from the shelf and stuffing them in the small basket Sakura was holding at her side.

"Deidara, not so much!"

"If you're going to have to keep me roomed in your house, you mine as well get used to spending and buying more, yeah."

He chuckled as he pulled a few pocky sticks from the upper shelf and set them on top of all the junk food. Sakura frowned at all the items. Yes, they were awfully bad for her, but the more she stared at the delicately made pictures on the boxes and bags of the items, the more her mouth watered for them. How long had it been since she'd had a potato chip? Maybe Deidara was right, maybe she just needed to let go a little. Lifting her gaze up to the male to agree with him she was caught off guard by his look. What the?! His lower lip was pulled out more than his upper lip, his visible blue hue large and moist. Was he...begging?! Sakura wanted to laugh so badly at the look this Akatsuki member was giving her, and for what? A few junk food items.

"Heh, okay, I guess we can get them."

He smirked once more. It seemed that look worked even at his age. Hmm, what other things could he get away with if he used this look?

"But we do need to get some vegetables. I'm not going to just pig out on this stuff."

Deidara frowned. Oh how he hated veggies. His eye narrowed as she smiled and pushed past him towards the rows of neatly stacked vegetables. It only took the two a few more minutes to grab the rest of the food and pay for the items at the counter. Deidara had grabbed a few bags and walked out of the store. Sakura at first thought it was very nice of him to help her, until she saw he only took off with the bags full of junk food. How typical. She smiled at the cashier and thanked him, walking out to see Deidara standing still and watching some sort of scene play out in front of the store in the streets, capturing every passer-by's attention. Sakura gasped, nearly dropping her bags.

.


	8. Chapter 8

A loud pop rang through the streets. Sakura gasped, running to Deidara's side. She looked up at him, his eye narrowed in confusion and head tilted slightly to the side. Sakura giggled, pulling her gaze back to the action in the streets. It was the Fall festival, and she totally forgot that it was today. Many colorful people walked through the parade. A large dragon swung gracefully through the streets, held on sticks by the people controlling it. Acrobats twisted and turned in many different ways as they preformed behind the dragon. Fireworks cracked, producing many colorful pictures into the sky.

"C'mon Deidara, let's get this stuff home so we can go to the celebrations tonight."

"Celebrations?"

"Yeah, it's the Fall festival. You know...."

Oh wait, of course he wouldn't know. Sakura stared at his questioning gaze. He was from Iwagakure. Did they even have such celebrations? Then again, his file said that he had abandoned his village at a young age, maybe they did but he never stuck around long enough to find out. Sakura smiled at him, grabbing his wrist and dragging him through the many different people that were trying to get a look at the parade. Deidara grumbled, unfortunately following after the kunoichi. He came to a sudden halt, almost knocking Sakura over in the process as she came to the quick stop in front of her house, unlocking the door and nearly running in. Deidara walked in, setting his bag upon the counter and watching as Sakura disappeared through her bedroom doors with a slam. He mumbled something under his breath before breaking into the pocky sticks. He started to shove them one after another into his mouth, staring out the window at a couple of kids that were wrestling in the streets.

"So, how do I look?"

Sakura came out of her room, presenting herself in front of the male. She had bought this outfit awhile ago, waiting for the perfect time to wear it, and the Fall Festival would be great! Hopefully Ino was there so she could show it off in front of her best friend and rival.

"Hmm?"

Deidara turned his attention to the girl before him, suddenly choking on his pocky stick that was half way down his throat. He would never have admitted it openly, but she was definitely a stunning sight. She wore a white kimino, stopping about mid thigh. Patterns of cherry blossom branches snaked there way down, branching off in all different ways. The top of the kimino cut short though, making it halter like, only a small strip of the kimino, about 3 inches thick went over her left shoulder. On her arms she wore the matching color and texture of her dress as arm pieces, wrapped around her mid bicep and blooming out down to her hands. The very last piece of the kimino was the light pink, the same color as the cherry blossom petals on her dress, sash that wrapped tightly around her mid section. How she got into that by herself, Deidara would never know. Her hair was tied up into a small bun, some pieces falling out and framing her face perfectly and two almond colored chop sticks sticking out crossed in the bun.

"Well?"

Sakura, stood there, giving him a questioning look. He hadn't blinked for a whole two minutes. Was he okay? Sakura waved a hand in front of him, suddenly making him shake his head and come back down to earth. He cleared his throat and gave her a quick nod before continuing on his box of almost empty pocky sticks. Sakura's eyes narrowed. That's all he had to say, or well, respond. Just a shake of his head and a mouthful of pocky sticks. The kunoichi sighed loudly throwing her hands in the air for emphasis before turning and walking back to her room, soon emerging with a pair of light brown sandals. She quickly slipped them on and walked towards the door, turning her head over her shoulder to look at Deidara.

"You coming or what?"

She nearly growled the words at him. His little stunt back there actually seemed to put a huge douse upon her excited mood from before. What did it matter what he thought she looked like anyways? Everyone else would love her outfit, she was sure of it. Soon enough the male was quick to follow after her from her house, still munching on his pocky sticks. Men were never good for anything.

----------

"Oh em gee! Your outfit is soooo adorable!"

Ino gushed, brushing her fingers across the material of Sakura's dress. Oh yes, she was so jealous. Sakura sneered, basking in all the compliments that were sent her way from her girl friends and some of the stares she was getting from other males within the area. Hinata shyly complimented Sakura on her hair also, seeming like she was trying to hide somewhere other than there. Then again, there was an Akatsuki member standing only inches behind her, she would probably be trying to run away from him as quick as possible if she wasn't stuck with him.

"Ohh! I forgot to tell you! Guess who I'm on a date with tonight!"

Ino already flew to another subject, obviously involving her. Sakura decided she had enough atttention for the moment and well... yeah, she wanted in on the gossip. Ino couldn't even wait for Sakura to ask.

"Shikamaru!"

"Oh my god, how did you get him to say yes? You know he hates events, he'd rather be sleeping, or staring at the sky."

"Well... that's a different story, but I was just so glad he said yes! He's going to be meeting me here in a little bit actually."

The girls were all caught in their own little gossip world, totally forgetting he was there. Deidara groaned out in pain. This was just pure torture! He wanted to move towards that delicious smell that was catching his attention from some booth, but everytime he tried to sneak away, Sakura would grasp hold of his wrist and yank him back behind her. He stared down at the girls as they were engrossed in their own little stories. If this went on any longer, he was sure he'd die of starvation. He lowered his face down to Sakura's ear and sighed loudly, making her jump in the process.

"What?! What do you want?! Can't you see I'm busy..."

Sakura quickly snapped, turning on him in an instant. This was the only time she got to see her friends, since she was stuck babysitting the S ranked criminal in her own house. All she wanted was a little bit of time with her friends during the festival, but she wasn't even granted that.

"I want something to eat, yeah."

"You can wait."

"No... I can't."

Deidara's eye narrowed as he stared the kunoichi down. He was sure he won, expecting a huff from the girl, but instead she shrugged her shoulders and with quick twirl upon her heel she was back to gossiping with her friends. Deidara stared at her back, dumbstruck, for several seconds before his face started to flame with anger. Then, slowly, a smirk started to pull at his lips.

"Well, if you won't take me to get food, then I'll just take you, yeah."

"Huh?"

Sakura questioned, hearing the voice of the male interupt whatever it was Ino was going on about, but before Saukura could question Deidara's motives anymore, she was lifted from her feet and placed on a boney shoulder. Her eyes widened in complete shock, as did her friends.

"What the?!"

"I told you, I was hungry."

"Put me down, now! I demand you!"

"You can't demand anything of me with the postion your in at the moment, yeah."

"I HATE you!"

Sakura screamed, pounding on the back of the male as they walked through the crowd of a rather shocked and laughing crowd. This continued the whole way, until Deidara came to a complete stop, placing the girl upon her feet and then taking a step back before she could swing his way. She turned on him quickly, fists balled at her sides and face red from all the screaming.

"That wasn't necessary."

"I already told you-"

"I know..."

Sakura talked calmly now, her face looking to the side in a defeated manner. Deidara's smirk quickly vanished from his face.

"I know that you were hungry, and I was going to get us some food, but I'm so busy with watching you like a child that I don't even have a life anymore."

She finally turned her gaze upon the male, her own showing off a tired and saddened look. She never asked for this. She didn't want to watch him, especially in her own house. Ever since he tried to attack their team, she knew things weren't going to be good for her the rest of the time he spent in Konoha, alive. Yet, she never thought she would have to give up all of her teenage life just to keep track of him. Deidara was the one to turn his face away from her now, he didn't know what to say to that. He didn't really have friends, and well, his life has been a complete screw up that he gave up on trying to have a normal childhood. An awkward silence ensued, both of them staring down at the ground, not knowing where to take the conversation, or the rest of the night for that matter.

"Well you brought me here, I guess we should at least get something to eat."

Sakura finally gave in, not liking just standing there with the smell of something delicious reaching her nose only inches away. Deidara gave her his attention, still seeing the saddened look upon the kunoichi's face, but otherwise nodding and following her as she walked up to the booth. The male behind the counter smiled brightly at the girl, asking what she wanted to order. Sakura ordered two sushi meals, placing down the money upon the table and then grabbing the bag of food from the man. She gave him a fake smile before turning around and handing the bag to Deidara.

"Lets find a place to sit."

She continued past him, walking off into the grass of the park. Children ran to and fro, throwing frisbee's and lighting off sparklers and chasing each other. Sakura found a spot underneath a tree, obviously not needing the shade due to it already being dark out. She sat down carefully, as to not get her dress ruined by dirt and looked up at Deidara who was still standing.

"You going to sit or keep staring at me?"

She questioned, her brow raising, but the corner of her mouth pulling up into a grin. Deidara didn't reply, but just quickly sat down next to her, handing the bag over and watching as she placed one of the boxes of food in front of him and her, and then placing chop sticks on each one. Sakura looked up at Deidara, who was staring at his box of food like it was going to get up and move at any second, and just shook her head. Why was he suddenly being so quite? Was it what she said to him? Did he seriously have a forgiving bone in his body to even care if he ruined her night? Probably not, and that is why she grabbed her food, dug in, and kept her gaze upon the crowds of people that were sitting or playing around in front of her.

"Tell me about your friends."

The sound of his voice breaking into her concious made Sakura jump slightly, but she quickly turned her attention upon him. Shock and confusion read across her face at his request of a bit of information from her personally life, but when he didn't say anything more, like perhaps he was just joking, she swallowed her food and began to tell him.

"Well, there is Ino and Hinata, the two girls you met tonight. Ino is the blonde, she's been my best friend and rival ever since I met her in academy school. She became my best friend when she protected me from the bullies at school who were making fun of my large forehead, and when I found out she also liked Sasuke Uchiha, we became rivals."

Sakura's face saddened heavily at the mention of Sasuke's name, but quickly disappeared as she didn't want Deidara to see how even just his name affected her.

"Hinata was the darker haired girl. She is the Hyuugan heiress. She is VERY shy, and I can definitely tell she likes Naruto, even though Naruto is such a block head that he is obvioulsy to any of the signs. Then there is Naruto."

Sakura smiled at the mention of his name. He had always been there for her, picking her up when she falls, and acting like the big brother she never had. But he's been so obessed with finding where Sasuke is he doesn't even seem like his old self anymore, like some part of him had gone missing the minute Sasuke left Konoha. Deidara had noticed Sakura's change in mood, and cleared his throat to get her attention. Sakura snapped back to life and smiled at him.

"Naruto, the blonde, idiot of a boy has always been with me. He's been on team seven with Sasuke, Kakashi, and I ever since. Sometimes I feel like I don't know what would come of me if he went missing too."

Quickly her mood changed again to sad and depressed. Obviously Sasuke wasn't with her and her team anymore, and it seemed to place a big weight upon with his disappearance.

"What about Sasuke Uchiha?"

As the name left his lips, Deidara quickly regretted ever asking. Sakura flinched at the question, and quickly looked away from him, staring out at nothing before gathering herself back up and slowly turning her attention back to the male.

"I loved Sasuke. I tried to make it obvious to him, but he was so obsessed with finding Itachi and getting revenge that he never even noticed. The night he left... I poured out my heart to him, and he turned me away. I even told him I'd give up my life, and run away with him if that's what he wanted. But I guess I just wasn't worthy enough for Sasuke that he knocked me out cold so that I wouldn't follow him."

Silent tears were steaming down Sakura's cheeks, for the first time in forever she was glad it was dark out so that Deidara couldn't see them, yet she didn't know that he was well too aware of the small wet drops that sounded on the grass. He wasn't too well with the whole comforting thing, but he thought that this was the best time to give it a try. Slowly he reached out towards the girl, hesitating at first, but then softly placing his palm against her cheek. Sakura gasped from the intrusion, quickly backing away from his hand and looking at him like he was crazy. Deidara retreated his hand like he had been slapped, obviously embarassed beyond belief. Sakura quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks, hoping he didn't see.

"Maybe we should head back to my house and get some rest, you know, big day tomorrow."

Sakura quickly got up, and started to make her way back to where her house was, mumbling off a list of what she had to take care of tomorrow, but she was suddenly yanked back by her wrist. She spun around, about to yell at Deidara to please not touch her, before she smacked into a warm chest. Deidara's arm wrapped around her torso in a soft embrace, his head dipping low to where his lips invaded her ear space. Softly he whispered.

"I may be an evil guy in your standards, yeah, but I know when someone has been hurt by another, and they need at least this to make things seem okay."

Sakura wanted to protest and yell out that yes he was evil, and that he should not even think about touching her like this, but the words he spoke to her were just too overwhelming and true that she sagged into his arms, letting the tears break free once more. This is what she needed. She had never cried in front of her friends, because she never wanted to seem weak, but tonight she couldn't help it. She let them run wildly down her cheeks, bluring her vision, and soaking Deidara's shirt. He didn't even call her a cry baby, or anything insulting, but just held her, one arm around her torso to keep her from falling, and the other disappearing into her thick pink hair. Sakura didn't even care about how intimate this looked between the two, she just pressed both her hands upon her chest, and let the sadness, fear, anger, and any other feeling she had kept bottled up for so long pour out into her tears and be soaked by the males shirt. When she finally cried herself dry, she sniffled and took in a deep breath.

"You okay?"

Deidara asked, still holding onto her in case she broke into another fit of tears. She just nodded her head in response, knowing her voice would crack if she tried to speak. She also knew that it would be best to pull away from him now, scolding him that he shouldn't touch her like that ever again, but the way he held her and the softness in his voice made it seem like he wasn't some kind of killer, but instead just some friend who deeply cared for her feelings. She wanted to stay like this forever, in the arms of a comforting friend, but the loud burst from a firework quickly brought her back to sensibility. This male wasn't a friend, he was an S class Akatsuki member, and he was dangerous. What he had done had been nice, but she would make sure she would never become too weak in front of the enemy. She quickly pulled away from him, clearing her throat and looking away from him.

"Lets head back home, like I said, we have a long day tomorrow."

Sakura bent to pick up the garbage of practically untouched food and walked off towards her house. Deidara felt embarassed once again. He had just let his gaurd down, trying to comfort the girl that had just cried over someone else she loved and he didn't even get a thank you. She just pulled from his embrace like she was stung or something and quickly went onto another subject. Then again, it was probably right of her to do so. If they were seen like that, who knows what would have happened if say the kyuubi boy, or perhaps the busty Hokage woman saw. He needed to get a grip of himself. He doesn't have feelings for anyone, especially some girl from Konoha. He would never again let his guard down so easily, especially in enemy territory.

* * *

A/N: Haha, hope you guys liked this chapter. Sorry it's taking like... a billions years for me to update, I'm very busy with trying to get college crap ready and this is my senior year of high school, so yeah. Anyways, I finally added some DeiSaku action for you patient waiters, but, it didn't last long. XD I'm so evil!

Read and review lovlies.

Oh and sorry if there are any misspellings, my Microsoft Office Word expired. D: Zomg! So just tell me if you see any big ones and I'll fix them, thanks.


	9. Chapter 9

Sakura sprang up in bed, covered in a cold sweat. Slowly she took in her surroundings. Her bed, her dresser, the door to her bathroom, and... a blonde man staring at her from the end of her bed. Sakura gasped, but then sighed as she confirmed who it was. Deidara was sitting up and staring at her from the end of her bed. His hair was messy and he had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't gotten any sleep, but his eyes looked so awake and his face a little pale. Sakura blinked, a few seconds passing as they just stared at each other.

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Well you would too if you slept in a room with a girl who was screaming half the night, yeah."

"Screaming? W-What do you mean?"

Sakura's face paled just as much as Deidara's had. What did she dream about last night? Quickly she tried to retrace her night, but came up blank. All she hoped was that it wasn't something embarassing she was screaming about. With a soft laugh and a fake cough, Sakura pulled her attention away from the blonde.

"Oh it was probably just a bad dream, most likely about-"

"It was about Sasuke Uchiha. You kept yelling his name, over and over again."

"Oh..."

Sakura stiffened, not knowing what to say anymore. It was bad enough that she had to share a room with an Akatsuki member, but having him know what was troubling her life was even worse. Deidara grunted and pushed himself up from the ground, pulling his hair into a somewhat put together pony tail. He turned his tired face upon Sakura, looking her up and down.

"You need to know how to let your past go. No matter how much you go after the boy, he won't come back until he's gotten what he wanted, yeah. I've spent some time around his brother, and all Uchiha's are the same... they get what they want no matter how long it takes."

Sakura swallowed loudly, watching the back of the blonde disappear out of her room and into the kitchen. No matter how much she disliked the man, she knew he was right about this. Sasuke always got what he wanted in the end, and he wasn't going to come back until his brother was dead. Sakura cupped her hands together and rubbed her face, trying to get herself together. She was going to have to control her dreams as best as possible. If she woke up to Deidara staring at her again, she was sure she would loose her mind.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

A loud voice rang out and then a loud crash not long after. Quickly, Sakura sprang from her bed and out into the kitchen to see Deidara on the ground, an angry look upon his face, and on top of him another angry blonde known as Naruto trying to land a punch onto Deidara's face. Naruto found out the hard way that Sakura was housing the Akatsuki criminal in her own house, and now Sakura was paying for keeping such a secret from her friend.

"Where is Sakura? Did you kill her? I swear, I'll tear you to bits!"

"Naruto, stop!"

At the sound of her voice, Naruto suddenly stopped and turned his attention to Saukura, a wide smiling forming on his lips, but then quickly turning into pain as Deidara landed a right hook to his cheek, changing the scene to where Deidara was now on top of Naruto. He went in for another punch, but Naruto had his chakra and quickly flung the other off of him, Deidara crashing into one of Sakura's tables with a loud thud.

"Knock it off, both of you!"

Sakura screamed, coming in the middle of both the boys before they could tear her house up anymore. Naruto fumed, staring at the blonde that was slowly getting up from the wreakage that was on the floor, blood dripping from a cut on his left temple and his arm. Tension swirled in the air as both the men stared each other down, their muscles tensing for another pounce at each other.

"I said stop it!"

Sakura turned to Naruto and blocked his path of seeing Deidara with her body. Her face was sad and apologetic and she knew that she was going to have to explain a lot of things to Naruto to make him ever trust her again.

"Naruto, calm down. I'm just housing him at my house for the moment, Tsunade's orders."

"Tsunade's orders? Why the hell would she want you to house with him?"

Naruto jabbed a finger in Deidara's direction, who puffed up and looked as if he was going to spring. Sakura quickly turned her head in his direction and gave him a stern look before turning back to Naruto.

"You just have to listen to me, ok? These are just orders to keep him contained, I'll explain everything to you later, but right now you have to leave."

"I am not leaving you alone with him! Who knows if he might rape you!"

"He's not going to touch me, Naruto, ok?"

"I don't trust him at all. Sakura, why didn't you just tell me? I would have stayed here with you."

"I just couldn't have you freaking out over nothing, Naruto. Really, I've got everything under control."

"Can you guys take your conversation elsewhere? I was trying to make breakfast before your little friend popped in and spilled my eggs all over the floor, yeah."

"I'll spill more than just your eggs!"

Naruto puffed up and so did Deidara. Sakura grasped hold of Naruto's arms and lead him past Deidara and out her door, slamming it shut behind her. She kept hold of him until she was a good ways away from her house so that he wouldn't charge back in and pummel Deidara to nothing.

"Naruto, I'm sorry I kept this information from you, I just didn't want you to freak out like you did just then."

"I wouldn't have freaked out if you told me from the beginning. I would have tried to help."

"He's dangerous Naruto, he was after you from the beginning. I can't have him around you, and Tsunade would not allow it either."

"Screw granny Tsunade and her rules, I just want you to be safe."

"I've had him at my house for almost a week and he hasn't even touched me, obviously I can handle my own."

Naruto cast his eyes downward, defeat present in his stance. Sakura sighed and wrapped her arms around Naruto in an embrace. Slowly she felt Naruto's arms wrap around her to return the embrace. They held onto each other for a few seconds before Sakura pulled away and looked into Naruto's saddened eyes.

"I just don't want to see you hurt, Sakura."

"I know that, Naruto, and I'll be fine like I've said a million times."

They both smiled at each other before Sakura managed to make Naruto leave and be on his way. Sakura turned on her heel and headed back to her house. Walking in she took in the damage of her table, noting that she would have to ask Tsunade to compensate for it before looking around for Deidara. At first she panicked and thought he had escaped while she left, but soon she heard a yelp come from the entrance to her bathroom. Following the cries she walked into her bathroom to see the blonde sitting on the edge of her bath tub pulling out splinters from her table from his arm.

"You need some help with that?"

Sakura leaned against the doorway as she smirked at the male in pain. Deidara turned his frustrated gaze upon the relaxed looking kunoichi. She was obviously getting amusement from his pain and suffering. Stupid girls.

"No, I've got this, yeah. I don't need the help from- AHH!"

He yelped again as he pulled out a rather large looking piece of wood, throwing it into the sink with the other bloody pieces he had already pulled out. With a roll of her eyes, Sakura came to his side and held out her hand to take his arm. Deidara recoiled and stared at Sakura questioningly before he slowly complied and let her pull out the splinters.

"He beat you up pretty good in there."

"Tch, he only won because I have no use of my chakra, yeah. If I did then he would have been a goner."

Sakura frowned and made sure to pull extra hard on the piece of wood she was pulling out to make the male whimper once more.

"Why is it always death and destruction with you?"

Deidara stared at the girl for a long time, going through many different answers in his head, his lips twitched several times, but he just sighed in defeat. There really was no answer to why he was such a killer. It was just him. He couldn't control how he had been raised, or really, how he raised himself in such a horrible world.

"I guess all I see around me is that exactly. Death and destruction. So why try to ignore it? Why sit back and act like the world isn't falling apart at the seams? Whether you are on the good side or the bad side, it's all killing and it's all the same."

Silence filled the room as Sakura kept pulling the wooden splinters from Deidara's arm. The way he put it was so very true. Life as a shinobi was full of killing. Even she had killed a few people in her time, but it was purely for her own protection...or was it? She killed to protect the ones she loved. Deidara just killed for the fun of it, right? Or was he just protecting himself as others came at him and tried to kill him for the bounty that was upon his head? To be honest, it was hard to tell who was the bad and who was the good in this world.

"There, all better."

Sakura pulled the last splinter from Deidara's arm and had wrapped it to stop the bleeding. He flexed a few times to make sure he didn't have any seriously bad injuries, but everything seemed fine. He stared at all the wood and his own blood in the sink, trying not to make contact with the kunoichi.

"Why do you help me, when you hate me so much, yeah?"

"Wha...?"

"It's a simple question with a simple answer, why do you hate me, and yet you seem to heal me?"

Deidara finally turned his attention to the girl, who's face was so full of shock he wasn't sure if she heard him ask the question or tell her that the world was going to end that very second. Her brows furrowed, then unfrowed, then quickly furrowed again.

"Hmmph, I don't want to be the one to tell Tsunade that I've got a dead Akatsuki member in my house. She might think that I was the one who killed you!"

At that, Deidara leaned back and let out a loud laugh. Sakura had never heard him laugh so hard, and to be honest, she kind of liked his laugh, not that she would ever tell him that. Deidara finally took a few breaths to calm himself and then shook his head.

"You could not kill me even if you tried, yeah."

"Excuse you? I've been trained by the best. I could break every bone in your body by just a touch of my finger."

Sakura gave him a soft punch in his injured arm and Deidara whimpered and retreated from the girl. Ok, ya she could probably beat his ass in his current state, but just because she was a girl didn't mean he would go easy on her in a real battle.

"Why is it always violence with you?"

Deidara whimpered again, rubbing his arm knowing full well there would surely be a bruise there tomorrow. Sakura faked another punch to his arm and Deidara quickly lept from the side of the tub and ran out of the bathroom, escaping her deathly blow. Sakura just laughed and shook her head, following the male from the bathroom.


	10. Chapter 10

After Sakura had followed Deidara out of the bathroom, she watched in amusement as he tried to cook himself breakfast. She broke out in small fits of giggles as he burnt the first batch, made the second batch too soggy, and ended up somehow making the third batch look like it was going to move out of the frying pan. Deidara growled in the end and threw his spatula down upon the counter in defeat. Oh well if he didn't have breakfast this morning...then his stomach growled loudly. Okay, maybe he did need breakfast. His tired and upset eyes looked towards Sakura and she just shrugged her shoulders at him.

"Hey, your the one who wanted to make breakfast on your own. I'm not helping."

At her comment, Deidara groaned and frowned. He needed something to eat, and he wasn't going to be making anything himself, obviously. Sakura ended up giving in and got up to make his breakfast for him. She genlty pushed him out of the way, but he didn't seem to move totally. He wanted to get a look at what she was doing so that maybe next time he could make it himself.

"Here, you need to make sure the heat isn't too high and you need to scrap them like this, so they turn scrambled."

Deidara moved behind her, his head perched over Sakura's shoulder to get a good look at what she was doing. It really didn't seem to hard, but then again she made it look so easy. Sakura's arm moved over to a few cut up veggies on the side and was about to dump them into the scrambled eggs before Deidara's hand shot out and grasped her wrist.

"Deidara what-"

"I don't like veggies..."

"Ok then..."

Sakura retreated her hand, but Deidara's hand never left her wrist. Her cheeks grew a slight red before she cleared her throat and his hand quickly left hers in an instant. The blonde added a handful of cheese onto the scrambled eggs before Sakura scraped them out of the frying pan and onto a plate. Greedily, Deidara grabbed the plate and went to the counter. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Sakura made her own batch of eggs with veggies in them. When they were done she took a seat next to Deidara who was woofing his food down like he hadn't eaten in days.

"Jeez, slow down. You might choke."

"I mmfine, you mmdon't know how mmhungry I was."

The pink haired girl shook her head at how he ate and spoke at the same time. He really did have bad manners, but she ended up getting used to them in the end. Breakfast was soon eaten, and then everything was cleaned up. Deidara sat around looking bored as Sakura put away the dishes and then made sure everything was in its place.

"Can we go now? I'm bored sitting here, yeah."

"If we are going anywhere, it's to see Tsunade. I have work to do."

Deidara made a loud disapproving noise, but Sakura ignored him. She pulled on her boots and gloves and made her way out of the house, Deidara following behind her.

The two walked down the streets of Konoha. The weather was damp, a feeling of rain coming on, and people walked slowly almost as if in some sort of haze. Deidara watched in mild curiosity as the civilians walked past them. When he first came to Konoha everyone couldn't stop staring at him. Some would give him nasty looks while others would simply call out rudely to him. But now they didn't care, almost as if they forgot an Akatsuki member was walking around in their town practically freely. Sakura glanced momentarily at Deidara's face. He seemed so calm and pristine in the dreary light. His face turned in her direction and she quickly pulled her face away.

"Sakura-chan!"

Deidara shuddered at the voice and his hair prickled at the nape of his neck. Sakura could sense tension from Deidara and she quickly moved in front of him so that he wouldn't do anything stupid. Naruto ran up to Sakura, the large smile that was once emblazoned upon his face now replaced by an ugly sneer towards the blonde behind Sakura.

"Yes, Naruto? Is there something you needed?" She wanted to cut to the chase.

"Oh, ya! I just got word from Granny Tsunade, guess who's coming in town?"

"I don't know, tell me."

"Gaara!"

All the color from Deidara's face vanished and his mouth went agape. Naruto saw this and smirked evily, knowing full well as to what would happen to the Akatsuki member when Gaara would reach Konoha. Sakura groaned, really not knowing how to deal with this situation at the moment. She had way too many other things on her mind.

"That's great Naruto, but I have to be somewhere. I'll have to talk to you about that later."

Naruto's smirked quickly vanished and he whimpered. Deidara on the other hand was looking around frantically. He had no use of his chakra, once that stupid boy reached town he would be dead for, he didn't have a fighting chance! He was going to have to stay low, but how would that be possible with Naruto knowing where he was being housed. Naruto would grab Gaara and drag him to Sakura's to kill Deidara right when he stepped foot into Konoha. Deidara sent a quick glare at Naruto before he was being dragged away by Sakura. Naruto giggled evily and made a slicing motion with his finger across his throat.

Deidara was sitting outside the large door that closed the Hokage in. Sakura had to talk to Tsunade privately, so she actually left the Akatsuki member outside…alone. Either she trusted the man enough to not run away, or that conversation must really be important to just leave him here. It had been five minutes already and he hadn't booked it out the door, his mind was too wrapped around the thought that the boy he tried to kill and extract the one tailed beast from would be in the same vicinity as him. If he had use of his chakra and tools he wouldn't be so worried, he'd just plant a bomb on the little twit and finish what he had started. But that wasn't the case, he was completely weaponless. In other words, he was dead meat. Deidara nearly jumped out of his skin when Sakura had slammed the large two wooden doors to Tsunade's office.

"You're really jumpy today."

"Heh…"

Sakura's brow lifted, confused on all accounts. He didn't come back with some snooty retort and he hadn't tried to run when she left him here. What was it that was bugging him? And then it hit her, Gaara. She placed both of her finger tips against her temples and rubbed them hard. If they didn't need to extract information from Deidara, she was pretty sure Tsunade would set up a special battle in the chunnin exam arena and let Gaara go to town on the Akatsuki member. But they did need information and Sakura was pretty sure she wasn't going to be getting any information from him anytime soon, so she was going to have to keep him undercover while Gaara was in town. This was just way too much work for her. Couldn't she just shake the information they needed from Deidara and be done with it? She wanted her life back! As soon as she thought of it, an idea came to mind. If she could get the information now, she wouldn't have to worry about protecting him from Gaara. There was only one way of getting information, and fast.

"You seem a little stressed, Deidara. I have the perfect remedy for that!"

"You shoulda seen it! It was…was…ugh, what was I saying?"

"I think my face is numb, hey man, feel my face!"

Walking into the tavern made Sakura's nose quickly upturn. The place smelled of sake, sweat, and something she couldn't detect but very foul. Deidara stared at the couple of jounin sitting in a corner, nearly falling out of their seats from drinking so much sake.

"Are you sure this is the place, yeah?"

"Oh, I'm positive! A little sake is okay, it'll help ease whatever you're worried about."

Sakura took a seat at the bar, Deidara pulling out the seat next to her. The bartender just stared at the blonde for a few seconds before turning to Sakura and throwing a white dish towel over his shoulder.

"What can I get for ya, little lady?"

"A bottle of sake and two shot glasses, please."

Deidara looked confused. She was too young to be drinking, yet this man pulled out the white ceramic bottle and two small glasses and set them in front of the pinklette without batting an eye. Sakura poured a shot for herself and Deidara and slid him his. He caught it with ease so that none of the liquid would pour out of the glass. Sakura raised her glass to him.

"Cheers!"

She smirked and then gulped down the small amount of liquid, her nose crinkling at the sting it left in her throat. Deidara just smiled and shook his head before doing the same. It wasn't long before he started to lose track of how many shots he had. Things started to become blurry, his cheeks and lips started to feel numb and when he tried to get up he stumbled all over the floor. Sakura on the other hand wasn't as bad off as her blonde companion. She had a few shots herself in the beginning so that Deidara wouldn't suspect anything, but she could still walk straight, yet had a nice little buzz going on.

"Wow, I've got to tell you, I've never really been this drunk before, yeah."

"I can't say I've ever seen anyone as drunk as you before."

Sakura giggled as Deidara ran into a chair and almost fell onto another person. He scrambled off the floor and surprisingly made it back to his seat next to Sakura. He tried to reach for the bottle of sake again, but missed.

"I think you've had enough for the night."

She just wanted him a little drunk; she didn't want to have to run him to the hospital from alcohol poisoning. Tsunade wouldn't know what to think of that.

Deidara leaned against the table of the bar, eyes drooping. Sakura was going to have to start interrogating him now if she was going to get any information from him before he passed out. She pretended to act a little tipsy too, falling off her stool and catching herself on Deidara's arm. He surprisingly caught her with quick speed, helping her back up onto her feet.

"How…meny drenks you had?"

Deidara spoke in a drunken manner, trying to focus in on Sakura's face, but failing only to make a stupid look as if he was trying to squint at small writing. Sakura couldn't help but laugh and quickly turned it into a drunken laugh, leaning against the form of the blonde. He felt so warm. Her hand wrapped around his bicep, finding a pretty decent sized muscle there. She could feel his muscles tense at the intrusion of her presence. Deidara started to get up, holding her by her shoulders and moving from the bar.

"Wait, where are we going, Deidara?"

"You are too drunk, yeah. We gotta go home…or something."

Deidara stumbled over his own feet, quickly catching himself on a table. Oh no, she needed to hurry up, she was wasting time trying to act drunk.

"No, no, I wanna stay."

"You're too drunk, gotta go."

"No, you're drunk, Deidara."

Sakura could hear the sound of a chair slide against the floor, and footsteps coming their way. Oh shit, this didn't look good. A rather strong hand grasped Deidara's shoulder and yanked him backwards, sending him sliding across the tavern floor. Sakura stood there, dumbfounded. She looked at the man, some jounin that looked a little drunk and very muscular and then towards the confused blonde on the floor.

"The lady doesn't wanna go!"

"No, sir, you have it all wrong…"

But before Sakura could say anymore, she saw a flash of black and blonde rush towards the jounin and tackle him to the floor. Punches were thrown, and tables were strewn all over the place. Other men started to get riled up from the commotion and began to throw punches at everyone else in the tavern. It was utter chaos, and Sakura had to get Deidara out of here. She pushed past a couple of men who gave an uppercut to the other and sent him through the wall. The sound of the bartender in the background yelling at everyone to take it outside was blending in with all of the commotion. Sakura finally found the man that had thrown Deidara pinned against a wall and the Akatsuki member punching his face over and over. This wasn't good at all.

"Deidara, STOP!"

Sakura ran over to the two and pulled at Deidara's shirt. He quickly whirled around, grabbing Sakura's arm hard and pinning her back against the bar table. Sakura yelped loudly from the pain in her arm. But that wasn't what had her completely frightened. The look in the blondes' visible blue eye. It held so much hate, so much raw anger. His teeth were clenched and the veins on his forehead were popping out. He was too much on edge right now and he would kill anyone that crossed him, but when he finally got past the haze of the sake, he saw that he was pinning Sakura against the counter. Quickly he released his grip and backed away from her several steps. Sakura quickly grabbed her hurt arm, staring at the confused blonde.

"Let's get out of her…"

Sakura merely whispered the words. Deidara just nodded, adverting his eyes from the girl and quickly following her out of the tavern and the loud mess they had caused.

Rain was pouring down as they ran, and in Deidara's case, stumbled towards her house. Sakura quickly searched under her mat for her key, and cursed as she dropped it once from how wet it was and then finally opened the door. Deidara rushed past her, stumbling towards her kitchen to look for something. Sakura didn't know what to do; she accessed her arm, finding a dark bruise already forming. She pressed her hand against it to heal it, hopefully so that people wouldn't see it and wonder, especially Naruto.

"Sorry about that…"

Deidara's soft voice spooked Sakura and she jumped backwards, hitting her head against her door. Cursing she pressed both of her hands against the back of her head. She could feel the presence of the blonde in front of her and she squeaked at how close he was. He grabbed the arm he had hurt and looked at the damage. It was a bluish grey color already and it was in the form of a hand too. Deidara's brows furrowed.

"It doesn't hurt that bad."

"It's not the pain that I'm worried about. It's the fact that I actually did this…to you, yeah."

Sakura's eyes went wide. Did he seriously just say those words? He was actually worried he had hurt her? But why…was it the sake talking? It must be the alcohol, it had to be! She suddenly felt fingertips brush against the bruise; it tingled, but almost felt good at the same time. He traced the outline of the fingers on the bruise, the whole time his eyebrows furrowing even more. Sakura's eyes started to droop from the feeling. She hadn't been touched like this before; it was all new to her. She liked it in a way and let off a soft sigh. She could feel the fingertips move away from the bruise, brushing against her soaked shirt and up into her equally soaked hair. They tangled in her pink tresses, brushing against the bruise that was forming there from hitting her head against the door. It hurt, but like the bruise on her arm, felt good at the same time. She sighed once more, and could feel Deidara move closer to her body. Her eyes quickly moved to look at his. What was once filled with hate and anger was now filled with curiosity and sadness. Unknowingly to herself, Sakura's hand had moved up to rest against Deidara's cheek. She pushed his bangs from his face. She had only seen his visible eye, but looking into both of them, it was enchanting. He was so angelic in a way. His jaw was strong, his nose long and thin, eyes as blue as the sky, and his lips…so…and before she knew it she was pulling those lips towards her. Deidara didn't even resist. He pressed them hard against hers, his other free hand resting upon the small of her back. She didn't know what she was doing, but for some reason, she couldn't stop. His lips moved against hers, almost guiding her. This was her first kiss, and to be honest, she never thought it would feel this great. She had always wanted her kiss to be with Sasuke though, always had thoughts of how it would feel. But dreams could never beat the real thing. Her own hands buried themselves deep in Deidara's blonde hair. He never made any sounds, she wasn't sure if she did or not, but just went with what her body was telling her. Deidara's hands both moved lower, resting on her hips as his lips moved down her jaw, pressing small kisses down the line of her jaw and onto her neck. Sakura could feel her heart beating faster than ever before, her breaths coming out fast. She could feel his fingertips running up the back of her shirt, brushing against her warm skin and she shivered in response.

"Sasuke…"

Sakura moaned out Sasuke's name without knowing. It was so impulsive, and she could feel Deidara stop in his actions. He was frozen in place and Sakura suddenly knew what had just happened. She didn't mean it, it just came out on its own. She bit her bottom lip and gently pushed Deidara away, obviously feeling awkward. This shouldn't have even happened, this wrong.

"I'm…going to go take a shower and then go to bed."

Sakura announced while moving around Deidara. He just made a 'hmm' sound, but never left the spot by the door. Had she hurt him? It was obviously the sake that had driven them both to do this. She had no intentions of kissing him again, this was all just a mistake, and the worst part of all…she didn't even get the information she needed from the beginning.

A/N: So ya, finally got back to this story. Enjoy Chapter 10. :)


	11. Chapter 11

Sakura hadn't gotten any sleep that night. She stayed awake, thinking about the kiss between her and Deidara. She could still feel the soft touch of his lips against hers. It seemed like hours before the door to her room finally creaked open and she could hear the soft footsteps of Deidara. She kept her eyes shut, hoping he couldn't sense her pulsing chakra, vibrant and obviously very awake. His footsteps stopped, she wondered what he was doing. She wondered if he was going to grab her pillow and smother her to death for rejecting him. She shivered in her fake sleep and could once again hear Deidara move. She heard a soft thud as he fell down against his spot at the end of her bed. Would he get any sleep tonight? She knew she sure as hell wasn't going to. She wanted to open her mouth to say something to him, to apologize? No, she wasn't sorry. She twisted and turned in her bed, filled with so many questions and no answers. A soft "hmm" came from the end of her bed and she stilled in her restless slumber.

"Go to sleep already…yeah."

Sakura didn't notice she was holding her breath, but she let it out once he spoke. He sounded tired and slightly on edge, possibly trying to get to sleep but unable to with her constant sounds. She sat up in bed, looking over the end. He was curled up, blanket half covering his body. He was lying on his side, legs splayed out in front of him and arms wrapped around his pillow. He still had his wet pants on that were clinging to his form, but his shirt was gone. Strands of his damp blonde hair stuck to his back and she nearly squeaked when she saw his piercing blue eye staring back at her.

"Do you need something?"

His question almost came out as grumpy request, a tone that said even if she did need something, he wasn't going to help her. Sakura cleared her throat, pulling her gaze away from his.

"I was just…"

"…what?"

"I didn't mean that to happen. I don't know why his name came out, I wasn't thinking about him, I swear-"

"Enough!"

Deidara barked out the command which made Sakura jump slightly. He slowly sat up, a fierce look upon his face. Sakura didn't know what to do; she seemed frozen in place as he just stared at her. As a bolt of lightning flashed in the background his face lit up and she could see the clear expression upon his face. He was hurt; his eyes looked drooped as he stared at the floor. A soft sigh passed through his thin lips and he pressed his palms to his eyes to try and rub the sleep out of them.

"It was very obvious that you didn't want me to do that, yeah. I caught you off guard and I shouldn't have kissed you. I know you still have feelings for Sasuke, but you need to understand…he's not coming back."

Sakura flinched at this response. She knew he wasn't going to return, but there was still some part of her that wanted him to return, that the truth would change and he would just suddenly show up at her doorstep, but that was just a dream and she needed to wake up and face reality.

"Just get some sleep, I-"

But before Deidara could finish his words, a pair of soft lips was pressed against his; a small hand pressed against the back of his head and grasped his hair in a tight fist. He stared at the girl before him with wide eyes. Hers were closed and her brows were furrowed, like she was trying to concentrate on the kiss. Slowly she pulled away, eyes slowly opening to look into his. A pink flush formed across her cheeks. Sakura didn't know if her action was right, maybe the sake really was what made him kiss her. She turned her head to the side embarrassed. She could hear movement from Deidara, and then a hand pressed against her abdomen, pressing her down against her bed. She gasped, looking up at the male. His muscles rippled as he placed both of his hands by her side, hovering above her. Her heart was pounding loudly and she bit the bottom of her lip, anticipating him to kiss her hard and passionately. But he didn't, he leaned down slowly, lips grazing against her cheek. She could feel his hot breath, making her shake underneath him. This wasn't Sasuke making her feel like this, it was Deidara. He was the one that could ease the pain in her heart from Sasuke. His actions stopped and for a second she thought he moved away from her, just teasing her. She turned her face to look up at him. He seemed calm, totally collected, while her heart was beating a mile a minute. He leaned down once again and her breath caught.

"You should get some sleep, yeah."

He whispered softly in her ear, before lifting himself up. The warmth of his body left hers cold, she almost ached for him to return, but she just pulled herself up. He was already back on the floor in his same position. She curled up herself under her covers, wondering what this was between them before sleep finally got the best of her.

She woke up again, sweat making her clothes cling to her body. Her breath was ragged and she could hear the pounding of the rain hit her window. She didn't notice it until now, but she felt a presence next to her in bed. She looked over quickly, seeing Deidara sitting on her bed looking at her confused. She had another dream of Sasuke. Why did he always have to haunt her? She hated this feeling of being so connected with him. She couldn't help the tears from rolling down her cheeks and the soft sobs raking her body. Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her into a warm body. She sobbed harder and he didn't say anything as she did so. She wanted Deidara to take all the pain that Sasuke had made her feel away, but it seemed nobody could. Slowly her sobs seemed to calm, the sound of the rain hitting her window was the only thing that filled her room.

"What time is it?"

"I'd say about a bit after midnight, yeah."

"Oh...when did I…start?"

"You were only a sleep for about half an hour, and then you started to scream in your sleep."

"I'm sorry; I don't mean to wake you up like this."

"Hmm…"

That's all he seemed to say. She truly was sorry for waking him up with her problems. He shouldn't have to be the one that constantly takes care of her, it was pathetic.

"Do…you want me to stay here, yeah?"

She didn't want to say yes, nor did she want to say no. The comfort of his arms around her made her calm. In response to his question she pressed against his body more and thank god he knew what she meant because he pulled the blankets up around her, getting comfortable in the bed himself. Her head rested upon his chest. His heart beat steadily, almost calming her into sleep. It was going to be an awkward moment in the morning, but if it got her some sleep and also Deidara then she could deal with it later.

* * *

Little shorter than most chapters, but I thought I'd give you good viewers a treat in this chapter. ;)

Read and Review please!


	12. Chapter 12

It was a lot warmer than usual in her room. The sun was beating down on her form, warming her back almost uncomfortably. She slowly opened her eyes, the bright light from outside making it hard for her to see for a bit. Her head pounded slightly, a headache? No, a hangover. Her eyes then widened as the night played over in her mind. She looked down quickly. There beneath her lay a male body. Slightly sun kissed skin, blonde hair reaching out in every direction, muscular chest breathing steadily up and down, and a forearm pressed over his eyes to keep the sun from intruding upon his slumber. She just stared at him for a few minutes before scrambling off of the bed. Her actions didn't even make the male move, he sighed heavily, turning over upon his side now that her body wasn't weighing him down, his back now facing her. Sakura was almost hyperventilating. What did they do…did they…? OH NO!

"NOOOOO!"

Sakura screamed loudly, the male upon the bed jumping nearly a foot in the air from the sound, lazy eyes searching the room quickly for the source. When he finally noticed Sakura's shaking form and wide eyes on the other side of the bed, back pressed against the wall, his eyes narrowed almost angrily.

"What the hell is the matter, yeah?"

"We…you and I…we, please tell me we didn't!"

"Excuse me? What are you-"

Then his expression changed to recognition. He groaned loudly, his palms pressing against his eyes. She thought they had sex that night. Wow, and she thought he had a lot of sake?

"We didn't do anything…well, in that sense, yeah."

"Umm, what do you mean, "in that sense?"

"I mean, we didn't have sex. We…well."

He turned to look at her, one eyebrow cocked up wondering if she would remember the night. She looked downwards, trying to motivate her alcohol infused brain to think about what happened last night. Some memories started to trickle back into her mind. The bar fight, the kiss at the door, her rejection, the kiss in her bedroom, the nightmare. Her body seemed to stop shaking almost immediately. She slowly looked back at the blonde who was still staring at her.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, oh. Look, we don't have to talk about this. I was just…trying to help. We were both drunk and things got a little out of hand, yeah."

Sakura's heart almost hurt at these words. She was pretty sure the time she kissed him in her bedroom it was pretty legit. But maybe she was wrong. He didn't have feelings for her, he just wanted to get a little lucky. SCUM! She scowled at him and huffed, moving from the room. Deidara blinked, slightly confused at her sudden changes in emotions. Damn, women were way too hard to figure out.

He slowly made his way out of the bedroom, leaning against the frame of her bedroom door. She was clanging pots and pans around in the kitchen, probably for no reason, just to vent. He rolled his eyes, but was lucky to duck just in time as a frying pan came his way.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

Deidara freaked out, his stance in a defensive mode. Sakura was holding another pot, ready to hurl it his way. Deidara's eyes were wild and completely confused. Jesus this girl was crazy!

"You tried to get with me when I was drunk, didn't you? You asshole!"

Sakura growled, throwing the pot. Deidara jumped to the side as it hit the frame and made it splinter. She was using chakra to infuse her throws with more power. She was going to give him a concussion if this continued, or possibly kill him. Obviously she didn't remember the whole night, and he needed to explain what really happened before she ended up in the knife drawer. Standing up with one of the couch cushions in his hand he looked over the side as she cocked back her arm with a plate in hand.

"WAIT! Sakura, just wait, let me explain, yeah!"

Another growled ripped through her throat, but she seemed to lower the plate. Deidara held up his hand in defense, hoping she would take it as a sort of surrender, not like he had a fighting chance anyways.

"You may not remember what happened last night from the sake, but it was mutual if I'm not mistaken. You kissed me!"

"Yeah, but why the hell were you in my bed! A kiss doesn't give you an invitation!"

"Calm down! If you don't remember I asked if you wanted me to keep you company after you had a nightmare about Sasuke."

Sakura's body calmed completely. She totally forgot about him being there to comfort her. She was used to the nightmares by now, but she wasn't used to someone being there to help her through them. She looked up to see Deidara standing in front of her, his hand grasping the plate in hers. She slowly let it go and he placed it upon the table.

"You…were there for me?"

"I didn't want you to go back to sleep with another nightmare, yeah. To be honest, I don't know how much more screaming I could have taken. You were louder than the thunder."

Sakura chuckled slightly at his statement, but then her expression saddened. Why was it always like this? She wanted to be rid of Sasuke, he was nothing but a problem to her and her health. Deidara's tired eyes evaluated Sakura. He started to extend his arm to pull her in, but quickly thought better of it and placed it at his side. Sakura groaned, slumping against the side of her kitchen table.

"Does Tsunade know about your nightmares?"

"…no, nobody knows but you."

"Maybe you should tell her, yeah. I'm not an expert upon your Hokage, but I know she's a good med nin. She'd probably know how to help you, or at least find someone that does."

"I'm fine, really. I don't need help; it'll work itself out on its own. It's just a dream."

"Sakura…that's no dream. You are being haunted by your past, yeah."

Sakura's brows furrowed. She didn't need this at this time. If she wanted someone to know about her nightmare problems she would, but right now she was content with just dealing with them every night.

"Please, can we just get ready for the day, I don't wanna talk about this right now."

"Yeah, I guess."

Deidara moved out of the way for Sakura to move past him and she disappeared into her room. He didn't want her to keep going through her nightmares of Sasuke, but he also didn't have a right to tell her what to do and how to take care of it.

The rest of the morning was quiet between the two. Breakfast was eaten in silence and the walk to her work was even more awkward. Sakura felt like people were constantly staring at her and Deidara and she was paranoid that they knew that something was going on between them. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Ino came running up to her side.

"Jeez, what's your problem?"

"Uhh, nothing. What do you need, Ino?"

"Erm…could I talk to you in private?"

Ino's cautious blue eyes traveled to the blonde male standing next to Sakura. He wasn't even paying attention to the intruder, his thoughts were elsewhere. Sakura frowned slightly, he must have been dazing off the whole time acting like he didn't care.

"Yeah sure, let's go over there."

Sakura pointed to a spot near the ramen shop. Deidara looked at Sakura now, understanding she was just stepping away for a bit to talk to Ino. He just nodded his head and stared off down the road where large amounts of people were conversing. Sakura watched Deidara for a bit before she finally turned to Ino.

"I was in Tsunade's office early this morning. There were some ANBU in her office too and they were talking about Deidara and you."

"What, talking about him and me how?"

"Like, they were saying how this mission is a fail and that they are finding evidence that Akatsuki are making their way towards the Leaf village in search of him. They don't know what to do with him either. They were talking about how if they keep him, it'll just cause a huge war with Akatsuki once they reach the Leaf. Yet, if they release him then they will just be caving to their demands and it'll be one more Akatsuki they have to worry about later."

The whole time Sakura was listening to this the hairs on the back of her neck were rising. Her gaze moved towards the tall blonde in the middle of the street. He was staring off blankly at something like before, then his gaze slowly moved to hers and their eyes caught each other. His expression was blank, and then softly a small smile broke across his face which made her have to break contact. She didn't want Ino to see any emotion that they exchanged.

"Sakura, did you even listen to me?"

"Sorry Ino, I was just processing what you told me."

"So? You need to get your butt in gear and get that info out of him before they kill him or let him go, whatever it is they have in mind for him. You need that info, Sakura."

Sakura bit her bottom lip in worry. She needed to figure out what her motives were with Deidara, and fast.

After a few more words were passed between the two girls they ended up departing. Sakura went back to Deidara's side and they walked towards the Hokage's office. The silence ensued once more until they got to the large wooden doors and the loud voice of the busty woman behind it quickly sliced through the silence.

"I don't know what to do, what do you want from me?"

"Lady Tsunade, we do not mean to pressure you with this. We just need an answer, soon."

A loud sigh could be heard before she answered once more.

"I'll talk to her, just leave my presence for now before you push my last nerve."

Shuffling could be heard and a swoosh of cloaks announced that the men in the room were gone. Without even knocking, Sakura pushed the doors open and walked in calmly. Tsunade didn't even look up from where her face was buried in her hands.

"Yes?"

"I just needed to drop off some reports for you."

"Set them on the desk, please."

Sakura placed the yellow folders on her desk before turning on her heel, Deidara following closely behind her.

"Wait…stay for a minute."

The couple paused in their movements and turned to look at the female behind the large desk. Sakura bit her bottom lip, ready to take whatever was going to get thrown her way, obviously nothing good.

"I'm sorry, but this has gotten to be very desperate times."

Tsunade looked between the two before making a motion with her hand towards the door. Sakura turned to look at who it was she was bringing forth. Her eyes widened in horror. Ibiki walked casually into the room, a very blank and expressionless look upon his face.

"So where shall we do this?"

His cold voice announced, face turning towards Deidara. The blonde's nostrils flared. He knew exactly who this man was and what his perfection was. A sick and twisted smile formed on Ibiki's mouth as he grabbed the blonde's arm roughly before dragging him out of Tsunade's office. Sakura's eyes widened. She looked at Tsunade who was looking over the files Sakura had already turned in. Without saying a word, Sakura trailed behind Ibiki.

The room was dark, as most interrogation rooms were. Deidara sat in a wooden chair, arms and feet strapped to the chairs arms and legs. He looked around the room almost boringly. Sakura stood on the side of the large glass plane. She was able to see Deidara, but he wasn't able to see her. Out of the dark Ibiki emerged. His tall form loomed over the blonde.

"You know why you are here, don't you?"

"I knew why I was here from the beginning, yeah. You people just thought you could easily weasel the information out of me in the beginning by being nice. What pitiful tools."

A chuckle erupted from the blonde, but was quickly silenced as a fist made contact with his jaw. A crunch could be heard, even from behind the glass. Blood splattered across the floor, dripping from the lips of the male.

"You gonna make any more smartass remarks?

"I don't know, are you gonna keep hitting like a girl?"

The conversation and hitting kept going on for awhile before Sakura couldn't take anymore. She ended up finding herself sitting at the ramen shop, fingering a bowl of cold ramen. She knew the hitting was only a small part of interrogation. There would be even worse to come and she also knew Deidara was trained to not spill any Akatsuki information at any cost no matter how bad of the interrogation.

"Miss Haruno?"

"That's me."

Sakura turned to face a male jounin. He made a wave of his hand to show that he wanted her to follow him out of the ramen shop. She slowly made her way up from the seat. The thought of the jounin saying they accidently killed the blonde ran through her mind.

"Ibiki couldn't seem to get any information out of the Akatsuki member. They've roughed him up pretty good and they need you to treat his wounds before they can continue."

Sakura's throat constricted with many different feelings. She didn't know what to think of these feelings but she ended up following the jounin back to the interrogation room.

The jounin opened a door which was dimly lit and a form was slumped in the corner of the room. It didn't move for awhile and Sakura thought it was dead. It stirred as Sakura moved into the room.

"Deidara, is that you?"

The male slowly moved to look at her and Sakura gasped loudly. His nose was visibly broken and was positioned awkwardly on his face. A chunk of skin was missing from his right cheek and blood was pouring out of his wound. Both of his eyes were black and that wasn't even the worst of it. His hands were red and looked like the skin was going to fall off of them from possible fire. His leg was sitting oddly in next to his body, obviously broken. And sweat coated every form of his body from trying to keep his act together and keep living.

"I'll let you heal him, call me when you are down."

The jounin announced before closing the door and leaving the two alone. Sakura ran to the blonde's side. She never thought she would feel remorse for a killer, but she just couldn't possibly believe what she was looking at. There were specific med nin's assigned to heal interrogates so that they didn't die in the process of being interrogated, but she was never one of those nin's. She wanted badly to touch him, but she didn't want to hurt him. Carefully she assessed his wounds and what it would take to heal them. Her brows furrowed in pain for him, and all he did was chuckle in response.

"It's not as bad as it looks, yeah."

"Are you kidding me? You are in a heap! Your chakra is barely even pulsing!"

"Worry much?"

He made a smirk, before he leaned over and hacked up blood on the floor. Sakura gasped again, not knowing what to think of this.

"Stay still, I will heal you."

"Why bother? They won't get the information they are looking for, yeah. They will just end up killing me in the end, what do I care?"

"No, they won't. They have yet to decide your fate."

Deidara made a huffing noise, which almost sounded like a gurgle of blood.

"You knew I was going to end up in this heap at some point. You thought you could make me like you and become friends with you so that you could acquire the information out of me. Real cute, but yet look, you failed your mission of getting the information out of me, yeah. You are a pathetic excuse for a ninja."

Sakura's heart clenched, her skin flamed at what he was saying. He was just trying to get her not to heal him so he could die and not have to go through the interrogation once more. She couldn't tell if he was just saying this to get rid of her, or if he really meant it. Her hands glowed a soft blue before hovering over his hands to heal them.

"Please…stop, don't make me go back in there."

His eyes moved to look at hers. The dark circles that engulfed his eyes made the blue pop out even more. She could see the hurt and the pain behind them. He just didn't want to go through with this again; he seriously just wanted to die instead of having to go back into that room. Sakura bit her lip once more before lifting herself off the ground and moving towards the door. She opened it and looked out for the jounin who was quickly in front of her.

"Are you finished with him?"

"No, his wounds are too intense. I will need at least all night and possibly tomorrow to heal him to enough health for interrogation again. Tell Ibiki this."

The jounin looked a little worried about this, but quickly obliged and moved away from the door and down the hall to inform Ibiki. Sakura closed the door and locked it before moving towards Deidara once more.

"I'm sorry about this…all of this."

"Why are you sorry? It's your job to catch me and bring me in for interrogation, yeah."

"Because, as much of a criminal as you are, I do not wish this sort of pain upon anyone. I've never seen and interrogate like this before.

"Heh, sounds like someone is getting feelings, yeah."

Deidara joked, a chuckle escaping his lips before pain overcame his body. Sakura didn't laugh at it, because as bad as it was, it was true. She did have some sort of feelings for this man. The blue started to vanish from her fingers and slowly she stroked them across his cheeks, ever so gently. Softly she traced the bruise under his eye. His body shivered in response. Watching her every move his hand reached out towards her and she leaned in towards him, her body only hovering over his own so that she did not hurt him. Unlike last night she was sober now and she knew exactly what she was going to do. There was something about this man that made her feel for him. Feel his very pain, his hatred, his sadness, everything about him. She wanted him, as badly as it wasn't supposed to be, she wanted him to comfort her when the nightmares took control. Her fingertips traced his lips softly, eyes lulling in response to his warm breath. Very slowly she leaned in, lips making contact with his. She could taste his blood, metallic and warm. His own lips moved with hers, trying to press himself up towards her. Pain became evident and he groaned, breaking the kiss and grasping his ribs.

"It's okay, don't move, I'll take care of you."

Sakura soothed, hands glowing blue once more and moving over his mangled body. She worked for what seemed like hours and Deidara seemed to have fallen unconscious somewhere in between. She didn't know what she was going to do when they came back to take him away once more, but she had enough time to think of it as she healed him through the night.

* * *

So ya, this story is actually starting to come to a conclusion, but I do have good news. A new story will continue with another person. ;) You shall find out at the end of the story who it's with. Anyways, I know this chap is super long compared to the others, but I wanted to put a lot of info into it so that I can get to the end.

Read and review please!


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